Revolution
by cloud9stories
Summary: SI-OC Naruto fanfiction. Mostly canon until Tsunade becomes Godaime, changes snowball together at some point. MC will do his damn best to become strong enough to survive, while trying to bring some civilization in a world where 12 years old are taught how to kill.
1. Eat Slug

**I OWN ONLY MY OCS**

**This is my first attempt at SI-OC Naruto fanfiction. As I said in the title, my character will focus on staying alive, at least at first...**

**I don't think I will put lemons in it, because quite frankly I don't think writing what the MC thinks about anal sex is character building. There is a fuckton of smut out there if you need to wank, use a bloody porn site.**

**I'll write what I can when I want, so there it is.**

**P.S.**

**I said it on my profile already, but I shall repeat: suggestions, and constructive comments and reviews are welcome. If you don't like what a character does or does not, save yourself time and don't tell me since the characters will do what the hell I want them to (that's the whole point of fanfiction).**

**If something doesn't add up feel free to tell me. Especially if the logic behind it doesn't make sense!**

**Thank you, and have fun!**

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**Betaed by BigBrainCannibal, who I thank for the great work and attention to details I can't even imagine.**

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Chapter 1:

Awakening

The first thing I clearly remember is feeling somewhat confused.

For a lot of reasons: I was no longer twenty-two years old (at least judging by my pudgy hands, blurry vision, and attention span of a mosquito), other children were roaming around, the adults people around me were not speaking my home country language mother tongue, and I was enthralled by a bright, orange wood cube.

Don't get me wrong, I normally don't don't normally despise orange, or wood, or regular geometrical 3-D objects, it's fascinating, really, but before my first memory in this shrunken form, I'm quite sure I was just about to submit my thesis for my Bachelor degree in History.

From there my confusion was born.

It most definitely was not a dream This was definitely not a dream, simply because if you can think about being while in a dream then while you are sleeping, it's easy to distinguish it from reality. At least this is that's always been something I could do.

My confusion was slowly subdued by my rising panic.

WHAT THE FUCK!?

I was almost hyperventilating, and boy is it not something stupid to do? The other children would notice something was wrong with me, so would the adults, and I would found myself in some secret military lab being dissected for some reason or another.

Because seriously, what else could it be? I wasn't two years old! And yet I most certainly appeared as such. I forced myself to calm down.

Looking around, I noticed a distinct lack of cameras or soldiers or even mad scientists for what mattered.

Maybe the cameras were super small though, so I couldn't start studying my environment like the paranoid adult I was.

Following a gut feeling, I spent the following hours crying, playing and mindlessly roaming on my unsteady legs, blending in with the other children.

From what I can observe, they were your regular annoying little toddlers, I looked to be in an orphanage of some kind. I didn't hate the children, I was the same slobbering mess at their age, but that raised other questions. Like why was I the only adult in disguise? And why were they all talking in what my limited experience with animes identified as Japanese?

Not that there was anything wrong with japan, just, I'd always thought that strange experiments regarding transplanting an adult into a baby were more up America's alley.

Another problem was that I couldn't read Japanese. That meant that even if I managed to somehow find a random document that explained everything, I wouldn't understand it. I only hoped that the official documents would be in English.

At the end of the day, I wasn't equipped well enough to properly investigate.

Laying low was my only option until my body caught up with my mind and I found a way to escape.

That is, in a worst-case situation.

Maybe I simply had I had simply/I'd simply been struck down by an aneurism aneurysm and reborn into the body of a Japanese. Which was worrying, but workable with Which while worrying, was still workable/Which was worrying, but workable.

For a time that I could hardly define, it could have been a few months or a year, I tried to fly under their radar.

I started recognizing some words and the mysteries of Japanese were slowly starting to unravel before me.

However, the orphanage had some inconsistencies, like the wooden floors, that I thought was something for they appeared far more appropriate for more refined environments. Yet, the food was bad food. I mean, if you can afford both posh wooden floors and their maintenance, then you can afford something different than rice at every fucking meal. Bread! I needed bread and cheese! And what is it with the fish? It was everywhere! Sometimes pork, okay. ? But what about beef? Hell, pasta! Ravioli! whatever! I needed something that at least could remember bore some resemblance to Italian food!

I could make do with noodles, noodles were awesome, but it wasn't the same.

The names of the other kids had been something I could seldom say right, at least until I became (following my gut) four years old. Around my 'fourth' birthday, the Japanese suddenly clicked, the cadence of the language fell in place on my tongue, and I started thinking in Japanese. It was then that I realized that I already had the reputation of being a dimwit, it was subtle, but the way the matron of the orphanage waited just a little more for me to answer to her questions was were proof enough.

Excuse me if I had to learn a whole new language on my own. I thought bitterly at the time, before realizing that it could be something that kept me even more sheltered from scrutinizing eyes.

Another strange thing that I'd noticed was the complete absence of newspapers, and there wasn't television that we orphans had access to. And also, the games; there wasn't a single western chess board anywhere, or a monopoly, for what mattered not even a monopoly for that matter. All the books the children had access to were filled to the brim with ninjas, or more rarely, samurais. Animals and trees were still there, And while I'd never been allowed to leave the premises of the orphanage, I never heard a single-engine, nor saw a single airplane crossing the sky. My Me being dimwitted had kept me from being displayed to the occasional parents wishing to adopt, but that hadn't stopped me from recognizing their clothes: often kimonos of some kind, almost always accompanied by sandals. I thought that I lived in some kind of Amish reserve in the middle of nowhere.

I was maybe five when I saw it for the first time. It wasn't a coincidence that I hadn't noticed it until then, after all the courtyard of the orphanage didn't face the mountainside. But once I was given permission to leave the orphanage's grounds, it was unmistakeable, unavoidable. It was bullshit.

It was a sunny, cloudless day. Late autumn, I would have said. We were in that a time of the year that which belonged to neither summer nor winter. The time when mornings were becoming colder and the afternoons shorter.

Probably, me asking to the matron how to write my name on the previous day had helped in her decision of allowing me to go play in the park with the older children. It'd been a strange moment.

I'd been sitting alone under a window, absentmindedly tracing my fingers over the few kanjis letters over the illustrated book. I was trying to decipher them, but beyond recognizing the same symbol here and there, I was having little luck.

The orphanage's matron leaned over my shoulder out of nowhere: "Reading, are we?"

I summoned all my cuteness and stared at her with wide eyes, grabbing my Japanese and stringing it together in what I hoped was: "Teach me?"

It worked. The woman smiled and ruffled my hair, making me smile impishly. She chose to teach me only how to write my name. I was skeptical, but it turned that learning how to write was more difficult than I'd previously imagined.

My name was Daiki, and the woman had shown me that it was written with 大 (dai) meaning "big, great" combined with 輝 (ki) meaning "brightness", or 樹 (ki) meaning "tree", or even 貴(ki) meaning "valuable". She told me that while they all sounded the same, the meanings were very different. I told her that I wanted to be 大輝. She told me that I was a 'big tree' instead. I didn't care, it was my name, I would bloody write it as I wished.

And while I had to resist the urge of rolling my eyes at her patronizing tone, I found the idea of kanji simply beautiful. Oh, it wasn't effective at all, I knew that. E... that alphabet was extraordinarily versatile and precise. But in my opinion, lacked the subtle elegance kanjis were capable of. I asked her if she could teach me how to write properly write, and that, I think, surprised her. She'd told me that I could start learning in the following week. I had a couple of months of catching up to do, but I could sit along with the others six years old kids.

Back to us. After my display of what I guess could be called maturity, I was allowed to play in the park on the other side of the road. Luckily, but perhaps due to my often blank expression (unnatural on a child) or general quietness, the other kids tend tended to leave me alone, and the matron, besides the occasional bout of kindness, was far too busy to keep a close eye on me. So my general loneliness, while swinging between nerve-wracking and welcome, went unnoticed.

It was then that I realized I was reborn into a cult of some kind. Seriously, why in the fucking hell there would there be a Mount Rushmore with anime characters on the north side of the city?

All the inconsistencies had come together that way It all came together. The magically being reborn in there raised a shy objection in my mind. I'd read enough fanfictions to recognize the beginning of an SI-OC in Naruto when I was starring in it. I stared at the monument that was the trademark of Konohagakure no Sato for what looked like a lifetime. My blood rushed to into my ears and I could only hear the beating of my heart. I forced myself to look around and try to find out if it was only a big cosplay movement moment or not.

The park had a low wooden fence and a number of benches, with an abundance of bushes and skimpy trees, slides, and even a sandbox. I walked around a bit in my short legs, casually noticing how most girls had frilly dresses and jumpers while the boys (myself included) wore cargo pants of some kind and tracksuit covering our torsos. The popularity of sandals was mind-blogging, even if I'd I had little choice but to go with the flow. Everything us orphans wore only second-hand clothes, but the material was sturdy and managed to keep me warm. I couldn't complain.

Trees were sprouting everywhere between the condominiums, and while there wasn't a single cloud in sight, leaves were fluttering everywhere over our heads. Looking back, even cultists wouldn't give wooden kunais to for children to play with. Or would they? After watching "The Following" I thought that everything was possible for a cultist.

A noise broke the pattern of children squabbling and I turned to see three older kids walking down the road laughing among themselves, I immediately recognized their Hitai-ate (forehead protection). They had forgettable faces and moved... well, like civilians actually, no show of magic chakra powers of any kind. I was starting to relax. It's only a cult of Naruto. I thought, somewhat relieved. The situation still had a lot of problems and issues I needed to solve, but I had to deal with humans, no strange shit. Physics was still real, and I wasn't going to attend Hogwarts, I didn't have to find a strange ring to toss into an active volcano. Surviving was doable.

I blinked, and in a gust of wind, a man with a shiny Hitai-ate appeared in front of them, scaring everyone shitless. Probably the trio had done some bullshit, I had other thoughts running amock amok in my head. _It's real_. sounded in my head.

I stumbled towards an empty patch of bushes and puked what was left of my lunch. _Shit shit shit shit shit this cannot go worse shit shit shit shit._

"Hey did you eat a slug?" a kid asked, triggering a waterfall of laughter out of the other children that chose exactly that moment to look at me.

I looked up from my vomit to stare at the laughing kids in the eyes, before stopping my gaze on the one that expressed such a refined example of humor.

"Yeah." I deadpanned. "Yeah, I ate a slug."


	2. Discovery

**Betaed by BigBrainCannibal**

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The academy was a curious place, I decided. It had been a long day for my young body, but I had learned loads.

The Academy was a huge building, located directly at the base of the Hokage Mountain. This was where prospective ninja got trained and where genin without a team received their , as it turned out, that the Genin Corps weren't fandom exclusive. And it even made sense that a military dictatorship wouldn't toss away soldiers.

It'd been founded by the Second Hokage out of military necessity. The Academy was quite large and was comprised of several buildings which were erected over time. There was an unmistakable tree in front of it accompanied by a single rope swing, while the building itself was easily identifiable by the giant sign bearing the village symbol, "火" (fire). Classrooms in the Academy were large with high ceilings, based on a theory that larger classrooms lead to expansive education, even the blackboards were not left untouched by this expansive policy. In my head that qualified as 'feng shui bullshit'. In front of the blackboard, there was a podium, situated far from the students' desks, and put in a position where the teacher could oversee the masses.

This was exactly like how it'd been structured in Naruto.

My first self imposed job had been understanding how much this world was similar to the Narutoverse. I had yet to observe a single difference.

A week after learning how to write my name, I had told the matron that I wished to become a ninja. Her smile stilled, that brought a rise out of me. Her reaction, which I identified as a carefully disguised distaste, didn't match my vision of a society where propaganda was deeply rooted in the minds of the populace.

But since then I'd been granted my own room, and I'm pretty sure the size of my riceballs had increased. It was a disgusting thought. Selling the life of the shinobi to the orphans through little minor privileges. I understood why though, I could even relate with the Kages, but it was disgusting nonetheless. I forced myself to listen to the stories the caretakers of the orphanage told us before going to bed and I cursed my previous choice of ignoring them, I'd have known where I was sooner. Everyone loved the Yondaime, and the Kyubi was a taboo topic. No references anywhere.

I learned how to write my name in a few days, since then, I started learning how to read and write, hating the fact that even the numbers had to be written with kanji. Joining the other kids in the informal lessons that taught us how to write and read had been a necessary pain. The genius kid's humor had stuck with me, but the joke was on him because I assumed "eat slug" as my surname. 食蝓 was a pain to write properly, but hell, Kanjis Kanji remained an idea that summoned deep fascination within me.

I entered my little room offering a brief glance at the mirror that hanged hung at the door. I was a boy (thank you god, buddha and Spongebob) with hair a shade of dirty blonde, which had the tendency to form an untameable mop over my head. I had normal eyes, irises a shade of grayish-blue. Normal since people that walked around without pupils were very real. From what I could divine beyond the pudgy appearance of my six years old face, I'd eventually end up having high cheekbones and a square jaw. I shrugged off the outer layer of my tracksuit before collapsing over my little bed. I just had dinner and I felt a little dizzy. I was glad that I could simply retire in my room, no longer was there mandatory 'playtime' "playtime" with the other orphans. Today we had what could be called an "open day" during which they showed us the academy.

It was appropriate. Little bed, little window, little desk, little closet. I was glad that being an aspiring shinobi meant that I was excused from performing the appropriate chores. In other words, no dishwashing! Which was only another policy further served to push children into the arms of the military. But that wasn't my problem. From the following day, I would start attending the academy, . I ...wasn't excited, but it was something I needed, simply because living in that this world meant belonging to one of two categories of people: predators and prey. Like hell I was going to stay a civilian.

Sitting at the feet of my bed I forced myself to pick up a pencil and smoothed down the stack of paper on my desk.

The paradoxes were mind-blogging, really, they didn't have cars or planes, but the paper was exactly like the ones used in my first life. I took a breath and started writing down what I knew about chakra and stuff. In English, no need to leave around stuff that could point towards me as some sort of super-spy. Besides shinobi were prone to becoming paranoid, and it was relatively healthy, suspicion was something that usually kept you alive. But I would destroy the papers anyway when I left the room, either ripping them or turning them into origami. Since Konan had become OP with that shit, I could try my hand at it.

And there this was my brilliant idea: in the same way I couldn't learn how to write in Japanese on my own, they couldn't decipher whatever I wrote down in English.

Then I recall the Yamanaka and their mind-reading Jutsu. I'd only hope that thinking in another language could drive them off. My first line of defense should still be "flying under the radar".

I surveyed what I'd been writing down:

Jutsu(術, Literally meaning: skills/techniques) are the mystical arts a ninja will utilize in battle. To use a technique, the ninja will need to use their chakra. To perform a technique, the ninja will bring out and release the two energies of chakra. By forming hand seals, the ninja can manifest the desired technique. Because of the extensive number of hand seals and different combinations, there are thousands of potential techniques to be discovered.

Ninshū (忍宗 Ninja Creed, Literally meaning: Shinobi Cult) is the religion and the peaceful precursor of modern ninjutsu created by Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, the first one to understand and teach the mystery of chakra. The teachings of ninshū were meant to give people a better understanding of themselves, as well as others, and lead the world into an era of peace. Ninshū would eventually come to be known as ninjutsu, a more weaponized version of the Sage's teachings.

There are three basic types of techniques: ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. Subcategories existed, including fūinjutsu and senjutsu. There were also kekkei genkai abilities which aren't techniques, but inherited abilities passed down through certain clans.

"Summing it up," I murmured to myself, "Chakra is some kind of energy, split in yin and yang. Jutsu is everything shinobi do that uses said energy. Taijutsu is martial arts enhanced by chakra, ninjutsu is spitting fireballs and genjutsu illusions."

I kept reading what I spent hours jotting down, I hoped to find a trick to become very strong, very fast.

Most ninjutsu required chakra and hand seals, but this is not always the case since the mere usage of weaponry qualifies as ninjutsu. The huge range of ninjutsu's usage is illustrated by its several sub-classifications: medical ninjutsu, reincarnation ninjutsu, space-time ninjutsu, barrier ninjutsu, sealing jutsu, and cursed seal jutsu.

Most ninjutsu use shape transformation, which deals with controlling the form and movement of the ninjutsu, while nature transformation deals with changing the ninjutsu's physical properties. Ninjutsu that uses nature transformation tends to follow a naming convention of their nature type followed by a more specific name. With practice and experience, certain ninjutsu can become second nature to a ninja, allowing them to perform it at will.

Medical Ninjutsu (医療忍術, Iryō Ninjutsu, Literally meaning: Medical Ninja Techniques) is a branch of ninjutsu associated with healing, as well as the manipulation of their own, or another's body, practiced by shinobi categorized as "medical-nin". The use of medical ninjutsu requires very advanced chakra control, as well as extensive knowledge of such things as herbs, medicines, the human body and even poisons.

The knowledge of medical ninjutsu can be used for a variety of purposes apart from simply healing. It can be used to create poisonous gas, hijacking of the target's nervous system, or directly attacking a target with chakra scalpels. Tsunade, renowned as the greatest medical-nin in the world, was able to apply the extreme chakra control required for medical ninjutsu to create chakra-enhanced strength, or, if I remembered correctly, she could explode chakra from a single tenketsu, creating an effect not too dissimilar from a billiard cue that transferred the strength of a whole arm into the tiny area of contact with the marble it hit.

"What overpowered skills are out there?" I asked myself.

I looked up and down my notes until I found again the Mokuton.

Wood Release (木遁, Mokuton: Wood Style) is a nature transformation-kekkei genkai, a combination of earth and water. It was famously used by Hashirama Senju and is not known to have naturally occurred in anyone else. Because of Wood Release's power and versatility, there have been various efforts to reproduce it after Hashirama's death. Wood Release techniques are commonly affiliated with the Snake hand seal.

At its simplest, Wood Release allows the user to create wood, essentially converting their chakra into a source of life before, and at its greatest, becoming mighty trees of various sizes and shapes. The vegetation can sprout from the user's body or grow from the surroundings; Hashirama created a forest that served as a the foundation for Konohagakure, contributing to his selection as First Hokage. Wooden constructs can also be created, ranging in complexity from cages to complete houses. It is not necessary that the created wood take any identifiable form, allowing users to focus on its inherent pliability to ensnare targets or its durability for brute force attacks.

Wood Release can produce very detailed, ornate constructs. "The Mokuton: Transformation" essentially creates a costume around the user, allowing them to convincingly pass as another person. By using senjutsu, Hashirama could create a gigantic, many-armed multi-armed, wooden statue that he had full control over fully controlled; its barrage of punches was chiefly responsible for the Valley of the End's formation. Wood Release's most versatile application is the Wood Clone Technique, which makes a fully-functional duplicate of the user that is indistinguishable from the original and is even capable of performing other jutsu. Sturdier than the Kage Bunshin.

The Wood Release was also equally famous for its power to manipulate, suppress, and/or absorb a target's chakra. Hashirama's mastery of this ability earning him recognition as one of the few people able to fully control a tailed beast. This would be done by ensnaring a target with the Wood Release and upon such physical contact would then control the chakra until they were finally too weak to escape.

Only those with Hashirama cells could use it.

The last period gave me pause. That meant something that nobody else ever noticed. It wasn't a Senju bloodline. It was a skill of Hashirama, which had been stolen by Obito, Madara, and Danzo copied through the cloning of Yamato. Or possessed through natural means by White Zetsu. All of those used Hashirama' cells. Given my scientific knowledge, the thought of implanting the cells of another on oneself was mind-boggling. The fact that it could gift a grant superpowers that was simply absurd. So I thought that Hashirama discovered something that he either didn't understand or simply had deemed too dangerous to share. Mokuton was more about manipulating life force than it was about chakra. This was Probably probably that was why the tailed beasts were so affected by it. Certainly worth investigating.

Well, Sharingan and rinnegan are the top two, being a jinchuriki closely follows. I thought, skimming over the notes. Then I thought about the Kages, who stood at the peak of the food chain. Those without bloodlines, that I clearly could not copy, were Tsunade Senju, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Raikages, and the Yondaime Hokage.

Sarutobi used at least four chakra natures, which meant that every nature could be learnt. And the Hiraishin was the most OP jutsu in the whole series, or close to the top. And there was some kind of fuinjutsu involved. The Rasengan helped, and it was versatile, I was confident that I knew enough about it to reverse engineer it, one day at least.

Tsunade was some kind of juggernaut. Besides her immortality trick, being able to heal your injuries looked like a must.

What did I know about fuinjutsu? It could seal away things. Every kind of thing. Souls and Tailed beasts included.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot that souls actually exist here." I said.

Becoming a sage was something that could likely help, and I knew that Hashirama was one without a Summoning Contract. So summoning animals was not necessary, even if it could grant me access to very nice skillset, after all, Jiraya had learned the Toad taijutsu from them. Yeah, summoning was a must. Instead, from what I remembered, to become a sage one needed vast reserves of chakra. So I couldn't bet on it. Though, generally speaking, more chakra alongside better chakra control one had, the longer he could last, and that meant a vastly increased chance of survival.

I took out a blank paper, listing down what I believed I needed to learn. In a spark of twisted humor, I choose a title that made me laugh a little. Seriously, the Narutoverse needed a cultural revolution. I missed my first life's music.

Stayin' Alive

Stuff I can start working on

1) chakra control

-Medical Ninjutsu

(along with its lethal applications)

-Tsunade's strength (trying without killing myself)

-Genjutsu ( maybe? )

2)fuinjutsu (how?)

(endless applications, one day hiraishin)

3)taijutsu

(top can be reached with sheer hard work)

-Exercise

"Ninshū does sound like some kind of hippy religion," I reasoned "But understanding chakra, nature, and stuff is likely the best long term game I could play."

My objectives were clear, and the possible things I gad had to learn to achieve those seemed clear enough. My natural inquisitiveness would probably push me toward ninshū anyway. Sure, I would need to adapt along the way, but it was something that resembled a plan. Now, I knew enough to get started on my chakra control and exercising my body, fuinjutsu... I would figure something out.

I slid down from the edge of the bed and sat cross-legged on the floor. The first thing, however, was feeling my chakra. From what I had understood, everyone could become a shinobi, and it made sense, since chakra is basically life force, and everything alive has it. It was interesting considering the influence it had on the evolution of the species different from other than humans, which I believe ended up as the Summon Tribes.

I breathed slowly. I knew that chakra was produced at the pit of the stomach, flowed through coils, and could be expelled through tenketsu. They all were kind of symmetrical, all but one over the heart. I hoped the academy explained that. I lit a candle and placed it in front of me.

I started regulating my breath as to not disrupt the candle flame that shone brightly in the otherwise dark room. The night outside of the orphanage was pitch black, dark clouds hiding moon and stars from view. The silence in my room was heavy and thick, from time to time disrupted by a sound coming from downstairs. Along with the vague chill of the room, it made for a slightly uncomfortable environment.

I breathed slowly, erasing the presence of the occasional goosebumps on my skin, ignoring the light rustling of my clothes against my chest moving, perceiving and discarding the almost inaudible breeze outside.

The only sounds that registered on in my perception were then only the occasional flickers of candlelight and the sound of my blood rushing through my body. Soon, even those ceased to exist.

I felt cold in the beginning, but slowly, my bodily sense stopped perceiving, there was only the silence and the flame that sat sitting atop the candle. I close closed my eyes, letting the surrounding darkness swallow me.

Even more slowly, my thoughts about my day faded into the background of my mind, my general worry about my situation no longer existed. Along with those thoughts, time stopped having any significance.

When With my entire being was floating in nothing, my senses slowly falling asleep, I turned my attention inwards, looking for something. At first, I couldn't feel it. The simple act of looking for something disrupting disrupted my meditative state.

It can't be that hard, Naruto was an idiot and he managed it without difficulty.

As quickly as it had appeared, even that thought disappeared into nothingness.

I reached inward, not with my will, mind, or intent, since none of the parts that made me existed on their own. I simply was, and with my whole being, I delved until I arrived upon a warm center of something. Heat like warm water started flowing through those that I supposed were my coils. It didn't hurt, it wasn't searing hot, it was just there. Like finding again a friend I had long since forgotten.

I opened my eyes to see the candle that had burned through half of its length: that meant I had kept I'd been meditating for almost an hour. But it didn't matter! I had found my chakra!

I let out a delighted delightful laugh! "I did it!"

I was overjoyed. In that this world of death and surprisingly deep characters, I too had superpowers! I lost my focus and the glorious warmth faded from my limbs. But I could still feel it, like an ember at the pitch of my stomach, ready to ignite at my command.

I rose from my seated position and placed the candle on my desk, before blowing on it out. The room was completely enveloped in darkness.

No longer able to ignore my tiredness, I climbed into the bed, a smile on my face. And like that I fell into the dark embraces of slumber, happy at the prospect of being able, one day, to spit fire.


	3. A walk among the gods

**Betaed by BigBrainCannibal, who I thank again, as should you, reader. Before his work, this chapter was a nightmare.**

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It'd only been two weeks, and I already wanted to die most of the time. Muscles that I didn't even know existed, pulled and screamed without warning. Without endorphins I would I'd already have taken my life.

The abyssal stupidity of the children made me want to throttle them, but I couldn't. I could get away with being isolated, but active spite would've raised all sorts of unnecessary alarms, all in the wrong people. I had no doubt each student of the academy was watched like a hawk, after all, it's counterproductive to teach something to future traitors or psychos. Since I wasn't Sasuke Uchiha and couldn't count on an act of swift revenge in the form of Itachi creating a mess in case something untoward happened to me, I had to be on my best actually-the -age-I-look-like behavior.

_Well, they won't teach to future independent psychos. _I thought to myself, after all, I could hardly consider anyone sane in a society that proudly produced child soldiers.

I had nothing against soldiers, humans at the end of the day were only extremely efficient beasts, it was good that we had a section of the population dedicated to keeping keep each other in check.

Every morning, I woke up at five, snatched some stuff up from the kitchens, and started running. Well, firstly I climbed I began by climbing the fence that sectioned off the orphanage's courtyard, then I ran in the park on the other side of the road. I'd run non-stop for over half an hour before my legs started stiffing out. I stretched and drank from a water fountain. Some push-ups, then I reached one of the strange construct made of pipes (probably thought to teach the children how to climb), I stuck my legs in there and started working on my abdominal muscles. When the strain became too much, I left it, and after drinking some more I began walking on my hands. My balance was good enough, even if I wobbled a lot at the beginning.

I could've used chakra to enhance my strength, but I'd no intention of doing so. For two reasons.

One, chakra augments the ability of what's already there, so the stronger the body, the stronger the power up granted by letting chakra flow in my coils. Well, that wasn't quite right. Since that first night when I discovered my chakra, I've always been aware of it, like a warm weight on my stomach, and it was always flowing in my coils. But it's presence was passive, like a distended muscle: unless I willed it to, it didn't strengthen me. I did a lot of stretching after finishing my exercises. I wished there was a river with water at 22C for me to swim in so that I could wash myself off while training muscles that were difficult to condition otherwise. I stopped only when my arms trembled too much to go on and run some more in the park.

Two, I really disliked the idea of remaining wimpy looking, it just wasn't for me. Besides, a strong musculature in my pre-puberty body would set up adult-me to become an almost-Might-Guy-like adult.

Once I was done, I went back into the orphanage and hogged the bathroom first, then the washroom, where the early risers were already washing.

I had a large breakfast, and meditated for half an hour in my room, intent on becoming more aware of my flowing chakra. It was like having a pool of warm water held into a spherical bubble. Flexing metaphysical muscles, I made it twirl in one direction, then another, following the little outpour influx that flowed through my coils. I wasn't really worried about hurting myself, after all, the chakra was a part of me in the same way my heart and lungs were. So killing myself while feeling my chakra was off the table. It would've been like dying because I held my breath for too long, impossible. The human body had mutated to accommodate the chakra, but at the end of the day, it was a life force kind of energy.

I attended lessons at the academy, performing to the best of my ability on the practical aspects, that for now were simple obstacle courses while being less than bright in my academic performance. I still had difficulties in juggling around with kanji. It brought with it a different way of thinking, and that made it difficult to follow a few details. At lunch, I ate alone, not that anybody wished to play with 'eat slug', and I was grateful, loud children quickly became annoying. Even with In spite of my additional training, or maybe because of it, the obstacle course was more demanding than I initially expected. My "no-chakra-during-training" policy persisted, the teacher's certainly made no mentioning of using it. I thought that they'd teach us about chakra after enough of us dropped out from the Academy, and it made sense, I wouldn't want to waste resources in teaching that stuff to a future civilian either. For now, it was history and math essentials.

The lessons finished at 17:00, when I bolted back to the orphanage and began helping the helped around our caretakers for around/about an hour, in exchange the matron kept teaching taught me how to write and read kanjis always more complex some of the more complex kanji, and. She even taught me some poetry from time to time. The bare bones of it were memory exercises, but the elegance one could express through kanji was breathtaking. The matron's name was Chihiro, which meant 'a thousand questions', and while I was the one asking them, she was kind and patient while answering them all. She was a note of innocence in the otherwise grim song of the shinobi nations.

After dinner, I spent several hours meditating, and performing the infamous leaf exercise. I was still performing it only with my hand with only one of my hands, but I was keeping track of the time and I kept getting better. I understood what chakra control was all about: not wasting it. The Chakra flowed through my coils and out if of my tenketsus, the objective was only letting it out from the tenketsu I needed, and even then, only the amount necessary for the task, not even a drop more. After that, there was the problem of keeping the flow even. It was hard work.

I had no idea about how to increase my chakra capacity. It stood to reason that it behaved like a muscle, so, the more you use it (with the opportune rest) the more it grows. But working on suppositions was risky, so I choose to wait for the academy teachers to break in the topic.

The routine was lulling, and I understood that the world I ended up in was the more adult-rated version of the Narutoverse portrayed in the manga and anime. I could work with that. But I had one problem. The Yondaime wasn't dead yet. That meant that the Kyubi had yet to attack.

I held no delusions, I couldn't prevent it, not if I wanted to stay under the radar. And my safety and well being came before one of the other fictional characters this world was made of. Hell, my life came before the storyline, so fuck it all.

* * *

10 October- second year of academy

I didn't even realize it, but when I was five Konoha was at war; The Third Great Ninja War. I had to work on my awareness, having difficulties with the language was an excuse that I could use no longer. I was seven, and finally, I could speak and read Japanese fluently. My choice of keeping my thought in English slowed me down, but my hope of making my mind not compatible with the Yamanaka mind-reading Jutsu was a hope too bright to ignore.

On the other hand, at age six, Itachi Uchiha enrolled in the Academy, where he constantly scored the highest in each subject and quickly learned any skill taught to him. He was praised as the best of his generation. The academy started in September, and since the first of October, Itachi had been placed with the second years. I did not doubt that he would be pushed forward once more once November came forth, memory told me that his teachers unanimously wanted him to take the graduation exam early. Itachi was more than advanced enough for genin.

Another complication had been his awkward loneliness and general quiet demeanor. Fangirls existed already, but, luckily enough, were shy enough to steer clear of him. And, and my reputation as slug eater was the nail in the coffin. Itachi would sit close enough to me during lunch, enjoying his riceballs rice balls in solitude.

Since April, I'd been spending my afternoons on the academy's grounds, using their obstacle courses or training posts to better condition my body. This caused me to arrive at the orphanage late into the night. Sneaking in and out had quickly become child's play, and on the rare occasions I'd been caught, a couple of times even by the Uchiha Police Force, I insisted that I needed to train, that always led me to being left alone. Turns out curfew only existed when the war was in full swing.

That was the official reason, my real motive had been preparing for that night. The only place I was sure to have remained intact and was accessible to me was the academy. I remembered Naruto's birthday was on the tenth of October. And I was still trying to understand why they used a Roman calendar. This was yet another paradox of the world I had fallen into.

Itachi had taken to stay staying behind with me after the academy closed, probably pushed by a misplaced sense of pity. He thought I was lonely! _Ha!_

_Well, I am a bit lonely._ I admitted, tilting my head to look at my younger companion. He was the human version of the drawings of him I remembered from the manga. Dark eyes and hair, the most delicate features.

I looked around. The light wind had turned chilly, and the autumn was making itself known with leaves of bright yellow and blood-red twirling around, indifferent to the disaster that was about to take place.

We were sitting at a wooden table, under one of the street lamps that stood on the border of the academy' grounds.

Itachi moved the piece on the crude board that I had engraved on the table. "Checkmate," he muttered, his face blank, but I could see a spark of amusement hidden deep into his eyes.

I studied the western chessboard that I claimed was my invention, the pieces engraved crudely with kanji for samurai (pawn), genin (bishops), chunin (knights), jonin (rooks), Kage (queen), and peace (king). We both found it amusing that our pieces were waging war to protect their peace the fact that our pieces waged war to protect their respective peace, amusing. Another way Itachi showed he was far more intelligent and mature than any six-year-old child had any right to be, I'd taught him the rules two hours before our first match. This was our fourth match. _Annoying genius bastard._ I thought.

I carefully hid my frown behind a poker face. "It must be very boring being a genius." I sniffed.

I wasn't a great chess player, but I'd hoped to kick the ass of the secretly smug bastard.

"The worst of it is that I know that you aren't you're not feeling the tiniest bit smug about winning," I whined. "What's the point of a game in which the if only one can win if the other does but not enjoy it?"

"We had a bet." he reminded me. "One that you requested."

"Bothersome," I muttered.

"But since you taught me this game, perhaps it'd be better if we shared stories, instead of winning them off each other with these matches you proposed." He added.

"Mostly because I would run out of stories to tell very fast." I answered. _Not bloody likely, given my love for mythology and videogames, I have enough stories to keep talking until I die of old age. _I thought.

We decided that I'd be the first one to share a story. Why did I ask for a story? Because mythology is a good way through which a culture can be understood, and there weren't books anywhere about the origins of the world. I took a deep breath, and let my tender seven years old voice take a somber timbre, setting the appropriate mood for that of a story shared around a fire. Even if there wasn't fire to be seen.

"Before this world came into existence, there was in its place, a confusing mass of shapeless elements called Chaos. These elements becoming at length consolidated and resolved themselves into two widely different substances, the lighter portion of which, soaring on high, formed the firmament and constituted itself into a vast, overarching vault, which protected the firm and solid mass beneath. Thus came into being the two first great primeval deities, Uranus and Gaia. Uranus, the more refined deity, represented the light and air of heaven, possessing the distinguishing qualities of light, heat, purity, and omnipresence, whilst Gaia, the firm, flat, life-sustaining earth, was the great all-nourishing mother. There were no shrines or temples made for her, instead, Gaia was held in such veneration that her name was always invoked whenever the gods took a solemn oath, made an emphatic declaration, or implored assistance."

I stopped briefly to take note of the six-year old kid in front of me. He looked interested, he was on the edge his seat, thirsty for more.

"Uranus, the heaven, united himself in marriage with Gaia, the earth, and they remain married. In fact, the smiles of heaven produce the flowers of earth, whereas his long-continued frowns exercise so depressing an influence upon his loving partner, that she no longer decks herself in bright and festive robes, but responds with ready sympathy to his melancholy melancholic mood. Such is the power of the sky's mood, that we call it summer or winter. The first-born child of Uranus and Gaia was Oceanus, the ocean stream, that vast expanse of ever-flowing water that encircled the earth. And you'll see that Ocean is still the son of his parents. After all, the ocean is formed from the rains which descend from heaven and the streams which flow from the earth. Uranus, the heaven, the embodiment of light, heat, and the breath of life, produced offspring who were of a much less material nature than his son Oceanus. These other children of his were supposed to occupy the intermediate space which divided him from Gaia. Nearest to Uranus, and just beneath him, came Aether, a bright creation representing that highly rarified rarefied atmosphere which immortals alone could breathe. Then followed Aer, which was near Gaia, which is the atmosphere we mortals can freely breathe, and without which we would perish. Aether and Aer were separated from each other by divinities called Nephelae. These were their restless and wandering sisters, who existed in the form of clouds, ever floating between Aether and Aer. Gaia also produced the mountains, and the Sea, who chose Pontus as his name. She united herself with the latter, and their offspring were the sea deities Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto, and Eurybia."

The child in front of me seemed enthralled by the strange-sounding names, and to treat him, I picked up a paper from my bag and scribbled them on it with a pencil.

"Along with Uranus and Gaia there were two mighty powers who were also the offspring of Chaos. These were Erebus, who is the Darkness, and Nyx, the Night, who formed a striking contrast to the cheerful light of heaven and the bright smiles of earth. Erebus reigned in that mysterious world below where no ray of sunshine, no gleam of daylight, nor vestige of health-giving terrestrial life ever appeared. Nyx, the sister of Erebus, represented Night, and she was the greatest of all since only Uranus could rival her. Uranus united himself with Nyx, but only in his capacity as god of light, and their children were Eos, the Dawn, and Hemera, the Daylight. But still, the world was empty to the eyes of the gods, and so, Uranus and Gaia produced two distinctly different races of beings called Giants and Titans. The Giants were unrelenting strength alone, but the Titans united to their great physical power a keen intellect that shaped their names. There were three Giants, Briareus, Cottus, and Gyges, who each possessed a hundred hands and fifty heads, and were known collectively by the name of Hecatoncheires, which signified hundred-handed. These mighty Giants could shake the universe and produce earthquakes by simply stomping their feet. But they each had fifty heads, and as such could not be reasoned with, since each of the heads tried to rule over the impossible strength and many limbs. The Titans were twelve in number; their names were: Oceanus, Ceos, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Cronus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Tethys."

The memories of my old readings coming forth, I almost drew a family tree, before recalling that Itachi could not recognize the alphabet I was using.

"Now Uranus, the chaste light of heaven, the essence of all that is bright and pleasing, held in abhorrence his crude, rough, and turbulent offspring, the Giants, and feared that their great power might eventually prove hurtful to himself. He, therefore, hurled them into Tartarus, that portion of the lower world which served as the subterranean dungeon of the gods. To avenge the oppression of her children, the Giants, Gaia instigated a conspiracy on the part of the Titans against Uranus, which was carried to a successful issue by her son Cronus. He wounded his father, and from the blood of the wound which fell upon the earth sprang a race of monsters, the second generation of Giants were then free to roam the earth. Assisted by his brother Titans, Cronus succeeded in dethroning his father, who, enraged at his defeat, cursed his rebellious son, and foretold to him a similar fate. Cronus, who wished to be the last to ever rule, became invested with supreme power and assigned to his brothers offices of distinction, subordinate only to himself. Subsequently, however, when, secure of his position, he no longer needed their assistance, he basely repaid their former services with treachery, made war upon his brothers and faithful allies, and, assisted by the Giants, completely defeated them, sending the ones that resisted his all-conquering arm down into the lowest depths of Tartarus."

Itachi, for a rarefied spare second, acted like his age became befitting his age and eagerly asked: "What happened then?"

I smiled with glee, happy to have brought a spark of wonder in a kid with such sorrow ahead of him.

"Cronus was the god of eternity, of time. He married Rhea, daughter of Uranus and Gaia, the older sister of Cronus. They had three sons: Aïdes, also known as Hades or Pluto, Poseidon also known as Neptune. And their youngest: Zeus, also known as Jupiter. While their three daughters were Hestia, Demeter, and Hera. Cronus, the heart heavy with the future foretold by his father, feared that his children might one day rise against his authority. Therefore, to render the prophecy impossible of fulfillment, Cronus swallowed each child as soon as it was born, to the sorrow and indignation of his wife Rhea. When it came to Zeus, the sixth and last, Rhea resolved to try and save this one child at least, to love and cherish, and appealed to her parents, Uranus and Gaia, for counsel and assistance. By their advice she wrapped a stone in baby clothes, and Cronus, caution forgotten in its fear, swallowed it without noticing the deception. The child thus saved, Rhea asked Gaia for a safe place, and with Pontus Pontus' help, the infant Zeus was brought to a secret island, where he was nourished, loved, protected, and educated. A sacred goat, called Amalthea, supplied him in the place of his mother, by providing him with milk; nymphs, called Melissae, fed him with honey, and eagles and doves brought him nectar and ambrosia. He was kept concealed in a cave in the heart of Mount Ida, and the priests of Rhea, by beating their weapons together, kept up a constant noise at the entrance, which drowned the cries of the child and frightened away all intruders. Under the watchful care of the Nymphs the infant Zeus grew rapidly, developing quickly the gifts of his heritage, and was blessed by extraordinary wisdom and intelligence. Once grown to manhood, Zeus met Metis, which was Wisdom, and married her. On her advice, he masked himself as a servant and tricked his father into drinking poisoned wine. The wine made Cronus vomit so much that he ultimately disgorged Zeus' siblings, intact and ready for revenge. His siblings had no problem acknowledging his authority. The rival forces ranged themselves on two separate high mountains; Zeus, with his brothers and sisters, took his stand on Mount Olympus, where he was joined by Oceanus, and others of the Titans, who had forsaken Cronus on account of his oppression. Cronus and his brother Titans took possession of Mount Othrys and prepared for battle. The struggle was long and fierce, and after ten years Zeus, finding that he was no nearer victory than before, remembered of the existence of the imprisoned Giants, and knowing that they would be able to render him most powerful assistance, he hastened to liberate them. He also called to his aid the Cyclops, which were the sons of Poseidon and his wife, who had only one eye each in the middle of their foreheads, and were called Brontes, which means Thunder, Steropes, which means Lightning, and Pyracmon, which means Anvil of Fire. They promptly responded to his summons for help, and brought with them tremendous thunderbolts which the Hecatoncheires, with their hundred hands, hurled down upon the enemy, at the same time raising mighty earthquakes, which swallowed up and destroyed all who opposed them."

I noticed the spark of interest in Itachi's eyes dimming a bit, he hated talking of war.

"Aided by these new and powerful allies, Zeus made a furious onslaught on his enemies, and so tremendous was the encounter that all the world is said to have throbbed in accord with the mighty effort of the celestial deities. The sea rose mountains high, and its angry billows hissed and foamed; the earth shook to its foundations, the heavens sent forth rolling thunder, and flash after flash of death-bringing lightning, whilst a blinding mist enveloped Cronus and his allies. Only then the Fortunes of war began to turn, and victory smiled on Zeus. Cronus and his army were completely overthrown, his brothers despatched to the gloomy depths of the lower world, and Cronus himself was banished from his kingdom and deprived forever of the supreme power, which became vested in his son Zeus, who still sits among the clouds, ruling over the sky." I concluded my story and walked to a drinking fountain. All that talk had made me thirsty. I went back to my seat to find an Itachi that had lost his usual blank expression to wear a more thoughtful one.

"Since you gifted me with what I can tell is to be an old story, I'll do the same. This one has been said to me by the elders of my clan, so do not share it." Itachi warned me.

At my assent, he took a deep breath. "From the mists of time emerged two deities, Izanagi-no-Mikoto and Izanami-no-Mikoto, the divine male and female gods of creation. Seeking to fill the misty void, they devised the marriage ritual and engaged in sex, but had to repeat the ritual due to a mistake on Izanami's part. This second, successful attempt yielded a multitude of kami, spiritual beings which were the natural world. The last of these beings was Fire, who killed Izanami." Itachi paused, looking at me to see if I was still listening. I was hanging from his lips. The Shintoist mythology was something I was no expert of, but neither I was unfamiliar with it. It was, from what I could tell, the same as one of my first life.

"Wrought with grief, Izanagi journeyed to Yomi, the shadowy land of the dead. Searching far and wide, he eventually found his wife and was shocked to find her rotting flesh full of oni and other demons. Seeing his rejection of her, Izanami flew into a rage and attempted to chase him past the gates of death; however, he managed to block the gates with a boulder. Izanami swore that if he left her there, she would kill one thousand people every day. He replied that each day, he would create five hundred more lives than she could destroy, thereby ensuring the survival of the earth's population. Disgusted by the taint of death that lay upon him, Izanagi found a pool of pure water nearby and bathed himself in it. As he washed his left eye, Amaterasu emerged, fully-grown and glowing with the light of the sun. He washed his right eye next, and from it emerged the shining Tsukuyomi, the moon who reflected his sister's light. As he cleaned his nose, a storm emerged and took the shape of Susanoo, the storm god, and ruler of the seas. These three Izanagi tasked with ruling the heavens, with Amaterasu as their leader. As was the natural order of things, Amaterasu married her brother Tsukuyomi and together they ruled the day and night. The marriage produced children, but Tsukuyomi lacked Amaterasu's naturally glowing disposition. Whatever goodness he had was merely a reflection of her light. Ultimately, Tsukuyomi revealed his true colors at a banquet when the goddess Uke Mochi created a bounty from which food could be grown. After she spat fish into the sea and game into the forests, she proceeded to pull crops from her rectum. Disgusted by her actions, Tsukuyomi killed her on the spot. Amaterasu rejected her husband's disgust and banished him for his evil actions. Thus, day and night became separated for all eternity. Though Izanagi tasked all three of his children with ruling the heavens, Amaterasu's claim was strongest, as Izanagi's firstborn, she held the divine right to rule. The youngest of the three, Susanoo, resented his elder sister's right to rule and questioned it openly. Eventually, Susanoo's arrogance led his father Izanagi to banish him. But before his departure, Susanoo went to bid his sister goodbye. When his actions were met with suspicion by Amaterasu, Susanoo issued a challenge to prove his sincerity. As the challenge began, Susanoo took Amaterasu's Yasakani-no-Magatama, the Grand Jewel, as she took his sword. Using these vessels, they each birthed goddesses: Amaterasu produced three goddesses from the Heavenly Blade while Susanoo produced five gods from the Grand Jewel. Since she owned the Grand Jewel and more gods were birthed from it, Amaterasu claimed she had won the challenge. Outraged by her claim, Susanoo went into a rampage, destroying much of Heaven and earth. He annihilated Amaterasu's rice fields and threw animal carcasses around. One of Amaterasu's attendants died during the rampage, causing an already angry Amaterasu to mourn as well. Ashamed that her actions had led to such chaos, she fled to the Ama-no-Iwato, the Heavenly Rock Cave. With Amaterasu in hiding, the world plunged into darkness and chaos. Thus began the first winter, a hard time for a world used to bask in the sun."

I was staring at him with wide eyes. I was unsure if the knowledge of japan myths had bled into the Narutoverse through the hands and mind of its creator, or if, and that thought was far more worrying, these stories were the same as the ones of my first life because we were simply in the far future, perhaps after a nuclear disaster and a new dark age, from which emerged the sacred three, and from there the origins of the Narutoverse.

The six-year-old took out a blank scroll from his bag, and a simple brush with an inkpot, writing down the names of the gods he had named. I envied the elegance of his movements, but it wasn't something I could be bothered to learn. At the orphanage, they didn't have the resources to teach calligraphy. Once again, Itachi kept talking, satisfied by having my undivided attention: "The kami looked down upon the world and, seeing the chaos left in Amaterasu's absence, decided they must bring her back. Though they asked her to return and described the chaos caused by her absence, Amaterasu refused to listen and blocked the cave entrance with a rock. After almost a year, wise Omoikane determined that if she would not come out of her own volition, they would have to lure her out with curiosity. To this end, a grand party was thrown. The plan worked, like the music, dancing, and joyous cries of the gods did indeed peak Amaterasu's attention. The noise intensified when the dawn goddess Ame-no-Uzume performed a particularly revealing dance. Curious, Amaterasu drew closer to the cave entrance, and there discovered theYata-no-Kagami (八咫鏡), the Eight-Fold Mirror. Fascinated by the light of her reflection, Amaterasu, at last, came to the mouth of the cave. It was at that moment Omoikane drew back the stone that blocked the entrance. As he did so, Amaterasu's light reentered the world, illuminating the chaos that had been left in her wake. Winter ended at last, and spring and summer brought life back to the land. Ashamed, she begged forgiveness for her actions. It was given freely, for Susanoo's behavior had been nothing less than abhorrent. His banishment was henceforth carried out, and Amaterasu returned to heaven. She later reconciled with her brother, who gave her the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi(草薙の剣), the Grass-Cutting Sword, that is also known as the Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi (天叢雲剣), the Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds, as a gift."

Almost distractedly, he had traced the kanji of the divine objects he had spoken of. Impeccable strokes of his brush against my distracted scribbling with a pencil. We shared a smile, and I could feel the beginning of a routine made of shared stories and appreciative silences. It wasn't bad, and I had never managed to relax so much before.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter if I am in the future or a manga. I thought. Staying alive still takes precedence.

Maybe I could find a way to travel through words, but that was a blurry and far away objective. Every consideration lost importance when I felt it.

Dread.

Pain.

End.

Bloodlust.

Like a battering wave, a tsunami, the feel of death washed over us, and we both turned as one toward the point of origin.

In a quickly dispersing cloud of smoke, stood the giant nine-tailed fox.


	4. Forward

_13 of October- the year of the Kyuubi_

I was walking around numbly, thick clouds of dust were still floating along the streets, the usually bright Konoha was uncharacteristically silent. Everyone was tense, careful to catch even the barest whisper. The squads of tracking shinobi had already swept over the battered area of the village, so it was unlikely that someone needed to be rescued, and the ones still under the rabble didn't need help any longer.

I wasn't alone in my slow contemplative walk, a lot of civilians were roaming the ruins that covered almost half of the village. Either so desperate that their minds had simply shut down to numb the pain, o acutely aware that they had lost everything. There were already squads rebuilding on the edges of the open, no, already cauterized wound of the village.

I shuddered remembering the dread of the night before, I had been glad when the magical shiny barriers of chakra had sprung out on their own here and there, cutting off the venomous presence of the demon. The academy had one hell of a defense, probably because it would be the target of any kind of preventive strike against Konoha. It made sense: first the schools, then the hospital. After a few days, the barracks, and you have mass panic.

Turns out the orphanage I was living in had been on the safe side of the village, so my long months of preparation in crafting myself a possible alibi had been useless. I was also relieved to see Chihiro unscathed, even if she had almost hugged the life out of me once I made my way back to the orphanage. I had to suppress an annoying twinge of guilt while she was fussing over me. I couldn't avoid thinking that the people around me were real and no longer fictional characters. But still, it wasn't like I could do anything to change their fate. And the option of being found out was the real scary thing in that world. Until I reached S rank at least. I was a mediocre academy student, and my self-discovery of chakra wasn't something I could compare with anyone else. But I hoped to have the possibility of growing strong, enough to not feel constantly threatened. Even while I was walking aimlessly I feared being kidnapped by Root agents. I could only hope that my less than stellar Academy performance was enough to keep me away from them. Maybe I should encourage Itachi's tentative friendship? _Maybe not. _I thought, remembering the giant, swirling Sharingan in the eyes of the Kyubi. The Uchiha had enough problems on their plate, and I wasn't going to poke at the future massacre with a ten-foot pole.

And I already disliked the thought of killing strangers, but realistically, what could I do?

The academy had been put on hold for a week, while the bureaucracy of Konohagakure no Sato gathered its bearings, the funerals would proceed into an uninterrupted flow for three days, at least the ones for commoners, the Hokage funeral was going to be held on Saturday. The academy students were expected to attend. I somehow disliked the thought. Maybe it was related to the small twinge of guilt that the thought of Chihiro dying summoned in me? I couldn't tell, and I carefully sidestepped the problem of analyzing my feelings. I couldn't be bothered.

I watched from the edge of the off-limits area a group of doton users bringing together groups of the rabble that were being charged over carts which ran swiftly over rails. _At least they can use chakra for something that it's not killing._ I thought. I could distinguish grim expressions and stern gestures from where I was standing. These were people used to deal with death, if not sudden disasters of that proportion. I remembered that Kakashi was only fourteen. Hell, in my first life, the biggest problem I had faced at that age had been the number of wanking sessions I could have in a single day.

"We should probably help." a voice said from my side, startling me. I looked at Itachi tilting my head in a manner that I hoped could convey how annoyed his sudden appearance made me.

"We are civilians until we make genin. And while for you it's a formality, for me there's still a long way to go. Besides, don't you have some Uchiha stuff to do?" I replied.

Seeing him frown at the mention of his clan I rolled my eyes. He was thinking that I would treat him differently because he was a Clan heir. "I know that you have a little brother, probably your parents would prefer it if they had you watching over him while they do what they can."

"Mother had been less than amused by my late night." He almost shuddered. I would need to break him out of that she that hid his emotions, speaking to a brick wall was unsettling after all. "And there are wet nurses for all the clan children, my aid would only hinder everyone."

I recognized a note in his tone that I didn't expect. Concern. But not for his clan, for me. He was such a thoughtful kid, worrying over the home of the orphan boy from the academy.

"The orphanage was spared. Even if a giant boulder crushed his way through the park in front of our courtyard." I informed him, and from the minute lowering of his shoulders I could tell that he felt relief.

"Hana is well too." He added.

_What? _"Who?" I asked, honestly without a clue. Beyond the most important characters, I knew very little about the narutoverse. Sure, the rare explanations about chakra and techniques were easy to remember, but those had always been the most fascinating parts. At least for my fantasy dependant brain. He briefly looked at me with an arched eyebrow and turned once more toward the disaster in front of our eyes. Both of us lost in our thoughts.

I was once again thinking about the implication of the story Itachi shared with me. And on its own, a memory made its way at the forefront of my head. In one of the Naruto movies they traveled back in time through the Hiraishin. The potential of fuinjutsu was right there for all to see. But I didn't know if this world was strictly the manga one, the anime one, or a mesh of everything, fandoms included. But it was something I had no control over.

I turned my back on the destruction and started to walk back to the orphanage. Maybe I should focus on my chakra control regime until it was deemed acceptable training in the park on your own.

* * *

_25 of May- four years After the Kyubi attack_

I stepped forward and tilted my head to avoid a jab, while punching the inside of the arm that was outstretched, giving me an inviting target I could hardly refuse.

I hit a cluster of nerves, but I didn't stop there, raising my elbow to intercept the other, enraged punch from my opponent.

I concluded the step forward slamming my forehead on my enemy's nose, strong enough to break it, before dropping low and executing a textbook leg sweep.

Hana went down heavily, howling in pain and being assaulted by her three puppies, that immediately focused on licking away her pain.

I leaned forward and raised her from the ground, ignoring the forgettable sensei: "The winner is Daiki! And that's all for today! We will see you all the next week for the genin test!"

Before he could come over and ask us to perform the 'bullshit sign of hippy happiness', or how the sensei preferred to call it reconciliation, I pinched her nose and pulled, setting it right.

She howled in pain once more and two of the pups growled threatening me, while the third headbutted my leg lightly. He was the smart one.

Being triplets, the Haimaru brothers had the same grey fur with white undersides and short pointed ears and mostly resembled Huskies. By whatever Inuzuka secret ceremony, she had been assigned the triplets a month before, and their understanding of human-tongue was still shaky. But at least they had stopped peeing everywhere.

"If you keep letting your face unguarded I'll keep breaking your nose." I blandly pointed out, before performing the sign of reconciliation and leaving the academy' grounds.

* * *

"Team 10: Daiki Eatslug, Hana Inuzuka, Kanbei Shin."

A cloud of white smoke along with a 'poof' covered the sensei words, and from there emerged _him. _Wearing a green jumpsuit, orange striped leg warmers, and the standard Konoha flak jacket, which he left unzipped. His red forehead protector was worn around his waist like a belt. Maito Gai, or Might Guy I didn't know, stood proudly in front of our class.

He placed himself in his trademark 'nice guy' pose, thumb up, and shouted "I'll race you to the training ground 10! And... go!"

He disappeared. I looked at my teammates, vaguely recognizing Shin, and amusedly noticing Hana was slamming her head on the desk, destroyed by having me in her team. The huski triplet was looking at me like it was completely my fault. And from what I knew, it was true, I didn't know if Guy had taught to another team before Lee's one, but the possible difference could easily be chalked up to some kind of butterfly effect.

However we left the classroom and ran toward the training grounds, we had to slow down because the dogs were too young to run on par with us. But after a couple of strides, I grew tired of wasting time, and without saying a word, I choose to act. I grabbed one of the pups by the scruff of his neck and placed it in the arms of a flabbergasted Shin, took one for me, and threw the last to Hana, who scrambled to catch him on the fly. I may have thrown the last one because he had bitten me, nobody would ever know.

We reached the training ground 10 only to see our future sensei doing pushups, his fingers buried into the ground because once he finished pushing up, he pulled himself down, in a mystery of gravity-defying 'Just Do It!' meme.

"YOSH!" He shouted, jumping up in front of us "I AM THE KONOHA BEAUTIFUL GREEN BEAST OF PREY! MIGHT GUY IS MY NAME! AND MY DREAM IS TO TRAIN HARD AND PROTECT MY VILLAGE!"

He was so loud the Hainaru brothers had slumped down and were whining, covering their ears with their paws, and I wished I could copy them. I let my chakra pour lightly out of me, testing his 'presence'. I couldn't get a read on him, nothing beyond the idea that he was solid. Like a boulder, but maybe with a hidden ember buried within. Guy was so different from what he portrayed himself as. My two teammates were very easy to distinguish, the kunoichi was the one that felt like a cozy room with a lit fireplace, while the other felt like some kind of... _ivy_. I decided. The three dogs were a confusing mess, but it was hard to feel something that held such a little sense of identity, their pack mentality blended one dog over the other. I opened my eyes, after unknowingly closing them, and looked critically at my teammates.

Hana didn't bother hiding her conflict between disgust and painful acceptance. She brought down her long brown hair which she usually wore in a ponytail with two locks of hair framing her face in a useless attempt of shielding herself from the loud presentation. Her large, black eyes shut down to block any visive input. For the occasion she wore a light shade of lipstick that matched the traditional fang-like tattoos of the Inuzuka clan on both of her cheeks, in addition to a new tattoo on her upper right arm that resembled a flower. She had a brace on her left wrist, bracelets on her right hand as well as bandages wrapped around her legs, while she wore light-brown clothes with white fur around the collar and a grey sash around her waist. She noticeably had a softer appearance than the other members of her family, not having slit-like eyes, or wild, shaggy hair, clearly, she had dressed up for the occasion, and I smiled at her naivety.

Still, having Might Guy as our sensei was a lucky turn of the events. Taijutsu was the base upon any shinobi relied upon, the one thing you could use without chakra or weaponry. I was lucky, really lucky to have him as a sensei.

I studied distractedly with my other teammate. Shin was taller than me of a couple of inches, but beyond that he had a leaner build than mine, resembling the stereotypical scarecrow ninja. He wore a combination of gray and dark brown clothes that would help him blend in with the vegetation, I approved. He had short black hair and brown eyes, while his high cheekbones and sharp chin made him look almost like an elf. From what I remembered he had a knack for traps, and then my eyes widened.

I remembered that Naruto' s generation of teams had been heavily specialized in a field. Team 7 front liners, the team with the Nara was a kidnap and read minds, while Hinata's was a tracking one.

Before our sensei could ask us to introduce ourselves I blurted out: "We're a sabotage team aren't we?"

The others whirled on me with a questioning expression on their faces, while Guy shot me a thumbs up along with a wink, followed by what I think he believed was a roguish grin. "You are indeed youthful, my young student! Explain why or you'll do five hundred laps around the village!"

At that point I simply went with the flow, and I knew that his training methods had merit, and their result was mastery over the eight gates, and power made you go on par with a god. Sure, then it killed you, but one could not have it all.

"I'll run one thousand laps if I get this wrong sensei!" I shouted back in kind, raising both my arms over my head with hands closing in fists. I brought down said fists on the shoulders of my teammates and kept shouting "And since we are a team, they'll run with me!"

Ignoring the satisfied 'YOSH' shouted by my sensei and the subtle but unmistakable approximation of killing intent Hana was leaking out, I was surprised by the complete absence of any kind of protest. Maybe the pack mentality of the Inuzuka served us well there, and my other companion seemed to be quietly accepting his fate. I hoped that such a demonstration of teamwork could spare us the bullshit of the bell test. I pointed toward Shin: "Traps and camouflage," I turned toward the kunoichi and the Haimaru triplets: "Tracking, hunting, and Hana has chakra control good enough to become a proficient med nin, and vet too."

I pointed toward Guy: "You can teach us how to be kickass on the close quarter since taijutsu isn't loud like ninjutsu. And..." I pointed at my chest with my thumb, before deflating a bit, it was a time good as any other to learn what Konoha knew about me. "I... what do I do?"

Might Guy leaned forward, a knowing grin on his face. Oh, I was so busted. He pointed at me: "Thieving and Subterfuge."

_Shit! _I thought. Not only he saw through my blatant attempt of fishing for what they higher-ups knew about me, but they also knew that I had been stealing from the civilian population. But the fact that they knew and didn't intervene raised more questions than answers. My teammates too were looking at me with raised eyebrows.

"Why nobody stopped me?" I quietly asked. I had been stealing ryos, and little sums here and there, only from people who wouldn't suffer their absence. I didn't need the money to survive, but the chainmail I was wearing under my clothes was sold in a shop of a retired shinobi, so stealing it had not been an option. The same went for my ninja wire, shuriken, senbon and kunai. I had been looking forward to being able to purchase armguards, but it couldn't be helped. Luckily I had already bought a tent, so I wasn't in a hurry to find myself a flat. Becoming Genin meant that I could no longer stay at the orphanage after all.

"Why, my youthful genin, because you stole randomly only from people rich enough to barely notice it, and from three people that had been unknowingly suffering at the hands of a shoplifter for years. Then you stole enough for them to notice, and they issued a C rank! Be warned however, that shinobi are not allowed to act against the civilian population in Konoha."

I nodded quickly, hiding a grin. I liked that he had specified 'in Konoha', whichever mission we took outside the village would see me getting a tiny bit richer than normal.

"So! Introductions, please! Tell me your names and most youthful dream!"

"So we aren't running?" Hana sighed in relief.

"Oh No! We most certainly will run! After all Daiki-kun didn't finish his explanation!" The sensei in green spandex most youthfully answered, and I could feel that my teammates were less than amused. I grimaced, I knew that the taijutsu master knew what he was doing and that the results of his training would pay off, but that didn't mean that I had to like it.

I sighed and went first: "I'm Daiki Eatslug, I like calligraphy and old stories, and I dislike wasting time. I have chakra control good enough to learn medical jutsu and genjutsu. My dream..." I thought briefly about it. It wasn't something that I had actively thought about. Staying alive was an objective, and condition through which everything else could be built upon. So I naturally shifted over the following task on my list that I didn't know how to achieve on my own. "And my dream is to become the best Seal Master to have ever lived!" And it was even mostly true.

I turned towards Hana, who was still looking at me with raised eyebrows. "I'm Hana Inuzuka, and my dream is to become the best vet for my family dogs, and one of the strongest kunoichi in the village!"

"I'm Shin Kanbei, I like knives and... fire" _o_

_Oh, fanfuckingtastic a pyromaniac. _I thought amusedly. "I dislike bandits, stuck up clan shinobi and vegetables, my dream is to become a shinobi strong enough to protect my family business."

_That sounds terribly like a mafia thing to say. Go to Italy! _I sarcastically considered in my head.

"YOSH!" our sensei shouted "Now my youthful students! I was supposed to test your teamwork, but you selflessly accepted your team mate's bet! And helped bring here the triplets! So we can get straight to training! I can already tell that your dreams mesh well together!"

And so it began my grueling new life.


	5. In a Dream

_25 of April- six years After the Kyubi attac__k_

I was looking at the faint green glow which was coating my hands. My attention however, wasn't on what I could see, but on what I could _feel_.

I could get a taste, an instinct, an image, from feeling the chakra of others, but I couldn't read myself. However I could see the difference from the chakra I used to climb, and it felt quieter than the nature aligned one. It wasn't exactly like the chakra sensing Karin was capable of in the manga, I could do it only when people were standing right next to me, and if the shinobi erased his presence (simply slowing down the chakra flow) he would disappear from my sixth sense.

The bare bones of medical jutsu were the different ways through which one could transfer chakra. Chakra was life force, after all, nothing more and nothing less. Shaped in yin and yang, respectively a more spiritual and a more physical aspect of it. They were opposites, but only in the sense that at the end of one began the other.

Changing one 'normal' chakra into the medical kind, meant bringing forward the yin aspect, and healing someone meant using your yin to properly assist the patient's yang.

The yang chakra took form into the production of blood cells, into the contracting of the muscles, into the infinitesimal spark of electricity that coursed among neural cells. The yin chakra took form into the manifestation of your soul, your thoughts, your beliefs, your feelings.

In that way, healing became pouring your yin, your will, in a way that was understandable by the yin of the patient (and that I suspected was the idea behind the compatibility of chakras), so that was in a language that the yang of the wounded could follow.

After turning your medical chakra into something compatible with the unique patient you wanted to heal, it came the difficult part. You needed to direct the blend of your chakras to heal. 'To heal' meant that if you needed to close a wound, you needed to enhance the clotting property of the blood, and then repairing the tissues. If the oxygenation of the blood was too low, you needed to act on the lungs, and direct the organs to produce more blood, making it circulate faster so that the cells wouldn't die of hypoxia, but you had to take care to not make the heart run too fast, the pressure had to be just right so that the patient wouldn't burst blood vessels.

Those were the bare bones.

For example, to heal a bone, one had to have _a lot_ of previous knowledge. Bones were considered organs because they contained various types of tissue, such as blood, connective tissue, nerves, and bone tissue. Osteocytes, the living cells of bone tissue, formed the mineral matrix of bones. There were two types of bone tissue: compact and spongy. Compact bone (or cortical bone), forming the hard external layer of all bones, surrounded the medullary cavity (innermost part or bone marrow). It provided protection and strength to bones. Compact bone tissue consisted of units called osteons or Haversian systems. Osteons were cylindrical structures that contained a mineral matrix and living osteocytes connected by canaliculi which transport blood. They were aligned parallel to the long axis of the bone. Each osteon consisted of lamellae, layers of a compact matrix that surround a central canal (the Haversian or osteonic canal), which contains the bone's blood vessels and nerve fibers. Osteons in compact bone tissue were aligned in the same direction along lines of stress, helping the bone resist bending or fracturing. Therefore, compact bone tissue was prominent in areas of bone at which stresses were applied in only a few directions. And that was only the beginning of the stuff you needed to understand to know how to act upon a fracture.

Isolating toxins could be done, even if it was way easier teaching to the body how to fight those on its own, and it had the nice bonus of building up a pseudo immunity to the said toxin.

Viruses were impossible to heal through medical chakra. Why? Because the little bastards duplicated using our cells, and as such couldn't be properly identified.

I turned my attention inward, looking for the slight 'wrongness' the poison in my veins was causing. Finding it, I thought it felt like oil swimming into the water, it simply didn't belong. So I isolated the part of me that was fighting the infinitesimal quantity of venom and enhanced it but kept it at bay. I didn't want to destroy only that dose of toxin, I wanted that my body could generate enough anti-toxins that would then be ready to be produced in bulk whenever the need arose. After a while, it was difficult telling the time while in a healing trance, I let my body's answer to the venom sweep through my body, and in less than ten breaths I was completely functional. With a satisfying deep breath I trailed my faintly glowing fingers on the cut on my forearm, closing it. I was getting faster at it, I didn't have Hana's natural inclination for it, but I made mine the philosophy of 'being a genius of hard work', and it brought results, slowly but surely. I slowly opened my eyes, taking in my surroundings.

The forest was drowning under an incessant downpour, and the thunders were almost the only sounds that broke the monotony. Almost, because my trained and highly refined senses could pick up the creaking of the woods under the wind and the occasional branch snapping, even the rustling of the beasts moving in the undergrowth. And the heavy, happy breathing of Alfa, my favorite among the Haimaru brothers.

The dogs had grown to about a third of their adult size, but more than their bodies, their minds had been the ones to truly blossom. Alpha was a special case, because while arguably the smarter of the triplets, he was also the more festive one, and he also _loved _when you talked to him in a silly voice.

"Another thing I don't understand is hand seals," I confessed to my canine companion.

Everyone just went with the flow, do these signs, and there you have a jutsu. But I knew that the Nidaime Hokage had used only one hand seal instead of the 44 necessaries for the Water Dragon, the infamous Suiryūdan no Jutsu. And I had witnessed Sasuke using the Chidori without hand seals. And from personal experience I knew that I was on my way to learn a seal-less Kawarimi. I knew that hand seals shaped your chakra, which then had to be properly molded through sheer will. Chakra control was simply a blend of the awareness one could exercise on the energy spent on a task and _where_ said energy was directed.

So the questions were two: why did specific hand seals consent one to work better with Katon, or Suiton? Why genjutsu seemed to follow its own rules? And the second, and arguably the most important question, what did the absence of hand seals say about Rasengan and Hiraishin? The latter may be sidestepped the problem using actually written seals, but the first, and its elemental variants, were shape and nature manipulation. Just like any other elemental based jutsu.

And yet there were loads of things done with chakra that didn't require hand seals. From enhancing one's body to sticking to walls, to placing seals with a simple touch. Following my gut, I could tell that I was well on my way to be able to perform a seal-less Kawarimi and Bushin. While with hand seals I had managed to tweak and blend Bunshin and Henge. Once I could perform my variation seal less, I would be able to sprout illusionary limbs in the middle of a taijutsu fight.

How did I blend the two techniques? It had been relatively easy. Each of them required three hand seals. Firstly I gathered the chakra necessary for the bushin and performed its hand seals, without letting my chakra execute the order. Keeping my focus on the complete but not executed yet jutsu, and mindful of the tension it generated in my coils, I _folded_ it and kind of stored it away, in what I believed was a tenketsu at the base of my spine, before going on with the henge, putting it away with the same method. In the end I only had to carefully let go of the two while molding them together. But the last part was simply based on focus. I discovered the whole 'storing away techniques' while thinking about the infamous collaborative techniques of the Sandaime Hokage. The whole gig required outstanding chakra control if I say so myself. And it also exhausted me. I could create around thirty bushins before feeling the strain, or henge fifty times in a row, but producing a henged bunshin, while roughly halving the chakra I had at my disposal, exhausted me mentally. It took me two months to make it work, and it also took three whole minutes to perform.

Why did I insist so long in practicing something I only had a hunch on? One, because of gut feeling, simple as that, and I had wondered if the Yondaime had started the Rasengan for the same reason. Two of the possibilities, once I mastered the trick, were virtually endless. Bunshin and Henge together basically created the human shape of my choosing. It was an illusion and not a genjutsu. The difference was glaring, at least to me, a genjutsu worked with you entering your chakra into the coils of your opponent, and could be dispelled. The result of my bastardized blended technique was something that dispelled on contact since it was still a construct made of chakra. It held potential. And that was without going in a possible Katon Futon combination. That was years down the line.

I shook myself out of my reverie, actually seeing what I was looking at. The tall trees with big trunks, along with the heavy rain and the light of the dusk made seeing through the forest difficult, as well as numbing down the smells. Obviously it wasn't a problem for the top-notch senses of the nin dog, who let out a low rumble to warn me something was approaching.

I smiled at him and scratched behind his ears. "You'll spoil me if you keep this up, you know?" I whispered, knowing that he could hear me perfectly well. A slow wiggle of the tail was the only sign that he had understood. But his head was pointing straight in one direction, he was still trying to identify the new presence.

I rose from my seated position while Alpha vanished like a grey shadow in the undergrowth. With few practiced motions, I took down the oilskin that was protecting us from the rain and rolled it up, I secured it on my waist like it was a strange belt and, with nary a flexing of my chakra, jumped on a branch a couple of meters from the ground, before running up the trunk and erasing my presence. I moved from tree to tree like I was the ball in a pinball game, my control over my movement was refined so that my feet hitting the bark almost didn't make a sound.

A happy bark took away the excitement of the hunt. I followed the sound and dropped on the back of my target, who was too busy fending off the attempts of the dog to lick him.

I landed causing an 'oof' and we tumbled on the ground, I was snickering. I loved ambushes.

"You're an asshole Dai." Shin hissed. We righted ourselves up, and I scratched again behind Alpha's ears, murmuring stuff in a happy voice: "Who's a good boy? You are! We tricked him!"

His tail was wiggling like mad, and I recovered a semblance of seriousness while Shin was busy spitting out dirt. "Are the others at the cave?" he asked me.

"Yeah, It's a pity that this rain makes most of the animals stay burrowed away, otherwise we could have hunted something while waiting," I answered, rolling my shoulders to avoid getting stiff.

"Bad idea, what if you end up following their same trail and collide on your prey?" He objected.

I gifted him with a sardonic smile. "Shin, they're bandits, not the Sannin." I rolled my eyes and took off to the cave team 10 had set up camp.

We soon arrived at the cave and we both frowned noticing the dog tracks just before the disguised entrance. Without exchanging a word we covered them up, it was true that nobody was going around looking for tracks in that weather, but it wasn't an excuse to become sloppy.

We didn't bother announcing we were back if even the Hana or the other two in dogs didn't sense us (strange as it did sound) Guy sensei surely would have.

We were greeted (or should I say ambushed?) in his usually loud manner, but he was also holding up two warm cups of tea, so we accepted the warm beverage in exchange for not shutting down his sunny personality. I doubt sensei caught on on the bargain he struck, but I wasn't going to burst his youthful, almost quiet happiness.

During another mission, a couple of months before we had managed to convince him that his loud proclamations were too full of bright energy of youth to be contained in a cave and that it would have crumbled over our heads if he was going to keep shouting. We still didn't know how it worked, but since then we almost always choose to make camp into caves. That was a completely unrelated topic.

"Shall we recap the plan one last time? We hit before dawn after all." Shin suggested. With a nod, and an encouraging smile Guy sensei run over the sleeping form of Hana and brought her to our little firepit without even giving her the time to get her bearings. And suddenly waking up a ninja is a stupid thing to do, greenhorn or not.

With a snarl worthy of her canine companions her arm shot forward while her eyes were still opening, nail outstretched to swipe away the eyes of her enemy.

"Such a youthful reaction!" he was, like always, overjoyed "You still need to learn how to recognize friend from foe in your sleep!"

Hana frowned and nodded, rubbing away the sleep from her eyes.

"Before you go over the plan, a warning." our sensei said. And just like that, it was like a switch went off in his head, gone was the easygoing, approachable dude. Crouched around the smokeless fire was the notorious Gren Beast of Konohagakure no Sato. A predator carefully examining his next hunt.

"Before dawn, you'll make your first kill. You'll want to puke, you'll freeze, you'll hesitate." He looked at each of us in the eyes with a meaningful expression on his face before going on. "Here's my order as squad leader: don't. Do that after everything is said and done." And once he had said his piece, he left us to our plan. After all, he was there only as a safety net.

Our C rank sounded simple enough, find the camp of the bandits and rely the information to the village elders. It did sound like a secondary mission of a game in which no care had been spared for details, I still found mindboggling how many civilians were ready to become criminals.

Hell if I were a civilian, I would be terrified at the idea of being murdered out of the blue by a random ninja. There were also less nukenin than one would expect, maybe the sheer self-discipline needed to become a ninja was at work there. It was an interesting thought.

The problem of our mission was Shin. Or better phrased, the problem of our mission was Shin's obsession with his civilian family merchant interests. If I were to be exact, being the third son of a merchant family didn't do him any favors. Unable to inherit, he had chosen to serve his family becoming a shinobi. So when we discovered that the elder who required the mission was an accomplice of the bandits, informing them of when and where to strike, Shin had 'youthfully insisted' to directly remove the threat.

Hana had supported his decision, stating that 'what was the point of being shinobi if they couldn't protect innocents?'

I wasn't big on killing people. I knew that it was something that I couldn't avoid in this world. So at least in my mind I had made my peace with it. Since the Kyubi attack, it had been harder and harder considering other people like an anonymous mass of NPCs. The bandits no doubt killed a lot of traveling merchants, after all, they had been ambushing caravans for months, but they still had hopes, dreams, probably families. Or at least parents that had loved them. I disliked the idea of killing fellow human beings.

* * *

Alpha and Beta went ahead in a large circle. They were on herding duties, while their brother would stay with Hana, they went to silently take down a sentinel before hiding themselves, ready to jump in the middle of the fray if things got out of hand. Shin had booby-trapped the surroundings and was ready to lead them into a deadly chase once we'd been figured out.

Nearing the enemy's camp, we split once more, Guy sensei disappearing among the higher branches, and Hana with Gamma going for the two bandits on guard. Not that they could do their job properly, no civilian could see jack squat through the downpour, trees shielding from the worst of it or not.

Shin and I slowed down waiting for her signal. After the following flash of lightning, a light was lit and switched off twice from the guards' position, signaling the success of her part of the job.

I took a deep breath. _This is it_. I thought, exchanging a nod with Shin, we moved silently into the enemy camp.

The tents were placed in a circular pattern: we split off, he went to the left, starting placing tripwire and explosive notes on the entrances, silently dropping in a pellet that unleashed a lethal gas, while I silently slipped into the first tent on my right.

Looking over the sleeping forms inside, I gathered my wits.

Three hand signs and a careful application of my chakra assured me the men in the tent would keep sleeping through sudden sounds. With a movement dictated more by training than my will, I took a kunai from my pouch and let it spin around my finger. I knelt over the first man and with a strangely steady hand I brought the point of the sharp kunai to a millimeter from the neck of the man.

I was frozen. And always helpful, my brain provided me with images of the neck's structure I painstakingly memorized from medical texts.

_I__mportant structures contained in or passing through the neck include the seven cervical vertebrae and enclosed spinal cord, the jugular veins and carotid arteries, part of the esophagus, the larynx and vocal cords, the sternocleidomastoid and hyoid muscles in the front and the trapezius and other nuchal muscles behind._ I recited into my head.

I wasn't twelve, so I could only imagine the difficulties Hana had to push through. But then, I wasn't a bred and raised killer either, so my worry about her psychological well being maybe was misplaced. And I was stalling. I recognized it and frowned heavily. I could almost hear the man's heartbeat, or maybe it was mine. I wasn't against lawfully delivered death, rapists had no place in the world I wanted to live in after all. And I had little doubt that the men at my mercy did cause their share of grief. But still, our mission had been gathering information about the reason why caravans had been disappearing. Suddenly becoming judge and executioner because Shin smelled an opportunity for his family to gain a new grateful trading partner.

Those considerations didn't solve my conundrum. I steeled myself and plunged the kunai upwards, digging up until I hit the brain, killing the man immediately, with only a sharp sting of absolute pain that managed to wake him in the split second necessary for him to die.

The sudden, unbidden disgust that rose into me was somewhat expected, so I pushed it aside, knowing that it was directed towards the situation I was into, and not to myself.

Still, my hope to let them be dreaming while dying was busted if they could break through my genjutsu because of the pain.

I refused to see them as something less than me, something beneath human because I didn't like where that road would be leading me. It wasn't even about some kind of misguided sadness, I could easily be convinced that those that stole not because of hunger had no right to be treated like civilized humans. It was more along the lines of... _They aren't worthy of anything beyond being removed from the picture. Nothing more and nothing less._

Founded my resolve, I moved over the other form, leaving my first kunai embedded where it was, I didn't want to deal with the wet and probably disgusting sound of it leaving the flesh.

The other man was sleeping on his side, so I simply punched him at the base of his skull with an outstretched knuckle, breaking the first of his vertebrae and killing him on the spot.

The following moments, or minutes, were a haze. A routine quickly established and carried out. Enter silently, make them dream, kill, exit, repeat. Again. Again.

I exited the last tent with hands that were dripping blood. I started to hate the men I had been murdering. _Why didn't they fight back? Didn't they want to defend their lives? _The sharpness of my thought shook me awake, reminding me of my surroundings.

The rest of my team was already waiting for me in the middle of the camp, the heavy rain couldn't hide the paleness of Shin, nor the splattered blood on Hana's face. The Haimaru brothers cuddled together at her feet. But the dawn was rising, and in the first rays of light I could distinguish the uncharacteristically grim expression of my sensei's face.

He nodded slowly, congratulating me for a job well done.

It was then that I bent over and puked out my soul, or at least tried to.


	6. A taste of battle

_02 of November-__ Year 7 AK (After Kyubi Attack)_

I let myself fall on my ass on the giant stone head of the Sandaime Hokage, and looked at the crouched form of the Anbu agent on my left, before letting my gaze wash over the village. The nighly lights made for quite the show, I could understand what the hype had all been about. The autumn didn't want to leave that year, so there were loads of yellow and red leaves twirling in the sky.

The Anbu turned his head toward me and tilted it questioningly.

"Spare me the 'all is a secret attitude' Neko, there aren't that many Anbu agents tall like thirteen years old, and only one that I know is capable enough." I said.

The Anbu rolled his shoulders, maybe he was at unease, I couldn't tell with my chakra sensing because he had erased his presence. The annoying thing to do.

I laid down on the cold stone surface, looking at the first stars coming out.

"I know of only one genin that would put it together," Neko answered, and I suspected there was a sardonic smile under the mask.

I probably would have been flustered by his comment if I was a normal shinobi. Sensei's reticence to propose us for the chunin exams was a running joke.

"Hey cut sensei some slack, we're his first team, it's okay being a bit on the overprotective side." I answered, mockingly offended. _Even if three years going for four are a lot of time to spend with an A-ranked shinobi. After all, during all the time he spent as team 10 sensei he hasn't been able to take the more high ranking missions. I wonder why nobody from the administration pushed him to let us in the chuunin exams._

"Besides, I don't mind Genin's life. We take C ranks that require us to work out of the village for a couple of months at a time, and I can take two D ranks on my own for every day we spend in the village. That leaves me with a nice amount of ryo and a lot of time to train. And the joke is on you, we have 6 months of Border Patrol and then we'll be chunins. Besides, I'm only 14, I have a lot of time to climb the ladder, and I'm not even sure I want to, I mean, responsibilities are like kunais, I try to dodge when they're thrown at me."

Itachi took off his mask and sealed it away into a little scroll that I didn't see him pull out. Because yes, he was that fast. But his lips were turned upwards, and in Itachi-tongue that meant rolling on the floor in laughter.

"Shinobi do not live long, you are _already _14." he pointed out.

_Uh, yeah, I forgot the mortality rate of this world. _"The Sandaime is pretty old, isn't he?" I observed.

Itachi blinked, taken aback by my answer. "You measure yourself against the Shinobi no Kami? Hokage-sama is your measuring stick?"

I frowned, I hadn't thought a lot about it. "Well, no. It's just if he made it, why can't I? He too has been a genin at some point after all. Sure, it happened fifty years ago, but still. And he's what, sixty-something? I intent to live to one hundred, and die in a bed surrounded by grandchildren that I'll be annoying them with terrible puns and embarrassing stories about their parents."

Itachi was surprised, I could tell, dying old in a bed wasn't something just any ninja could allow himself to think about. "While I am at it, I'll make sure it becomes possible for everyone," I added like it was an afterthought. Now _that _messed him up.

I had been back into the village for a week, and it was hard to not notice the unrest around the name Uchiha. I wouldn't openly intervene, it was still something that would see me strapped onto a table for torture by Root agents. Besides, I honestly thought that the fewer sharingans around, the better for everyone. Preventing Madara's resurrection was a foggy plan in the back of my mind, but sharingans were dangerous shit.

That didn't mean I couldn't point out that Itachi could choose to just kidnap his brother and run away. Doing that without revealing that I knew the future was troublesome, but I would be on Border Patrol for the following six months, so I would probably miss the massacre, which wasn't a bad thing.

I was happy that I didn't have to go through the chunin exams, the whole thing looked like being a gladiator tossed into an arena for the people amusement. And a bit sad at the idea of leaving the comfy life of a genin.

"The world is not so easily changed." the young shinobi whispered. If I didn't know better I would have thought that he sounded defeated.

_What's up with this world and thirteen years old phylosophers?_ I frowned. _It's like he thinks in mysterious Dumbledoresque riddles._

But I secretly loved Dumbledoresque riddles, so I could go with his vibe.

"Why do you even wake up in the morning if you don't believe that what you do matters? Everything you do changes the world, Itachi, you could even start to think about what changes you wish to bring."

With that hopeful comment, I rose from my position, arching back to stretch a bit, I performed a handstand and started doing pushups, my feet high in the air. It was hard being a genin under Might Guy and not pick up his attitude toward constant youthful training.

"We can't do just what we want." He objected.

I blinked, staring at him with a raised eyebrow while doing my exercise. "You know, there's a thing I've heard once." I started. "A slave obeys. A man chooses."

I wasn't looking at him, so I didn't know how he reacted. After a while, I grew tired of the silence. "Your little brother starts the academy this year, doesn't he?" I asked without stopping.

"He does." Itachi answered noncommittally, and we trailed off into a companionable silence.

"Daiki." I stopped, in the rare times he had used my name, he never forgot to place the -san at the end of it. It didn't matter that I refused to use honorifics, he was always very appropriate. His upbringing had been very traditional after all, so it was hardly surprising. That he chose to forego it, meant something serious came up. "I'd like to spar with you."

Now, I didn't particularly like the killing part of being a shinobi, even if I had to get used to doing it. But there was a kind of... satisfaction, in mastering a shinobi skill, whatever it was. And with it came a wish to test yourself. At least it was true for me. So, his proposition, while out of character, and sudden, was mouth-watering.

I knew that at thirteen he was a far cry from what he would become in some years with the Mangekyō, but he was Anbu. And while I knew, mostly basing myself on both the anime and the occasional scuffle my team had with half-trained nukenin, that I was far beyond genin level, I still had no idea of the gap between me and the A-ranked jounins. I knew that Guy sensei was untouchable, and likely Kakashi, but I wanted to feel that distance for myself. _What's the catch?_

"Why?" I asked him.

His shoulder tensed and his eyes flashed red, the commas in his irises spinning slowly while he looked around. He was checking to see if we were being spied upon? _Why would he...? Oh shit he's about to drag me in the Uchiha' shit! Nononono..._

While I processed that thought, his eyes went back to their usual, far less scary, black. "I wanted to ask you if you could keep an eye on Sasuke if I'm not around. And I would be... reassured, if you, despite your genin status, could prove yourself... competent in..."

"Alright, alright, I'll do it." I interrupted him waving my hands, and his shoulder lost that almost unnoticeable tension they had gained. "But on one condition." I added, grinning wolfishly.

* * *

When the sun rose in the following morning, it found me running around the village with my team, Guy sensei was running on his hands, obviously, and let me, Hana, Shin, and the Haimaru brothers eat his dust. That man was scary.

One hour after dawn, we had completed the morning routine I forced my teammates to follow. I refused to die somewhere because they lacked the proper stamina. So we split off once we reached again the gate of the village, both Hana and Shin wishing only to go back to sleep. We were off the rooster for a few days, we had earned it, but they seemed happy to treat it like it was some kind of holiday. _Madness_. I felt like I was the only one acutely aware of how easy it was to die because we didn't measure up to an opponent.

That was why I usually kept training with Guy sensei as long as possible, before splitting up and doing my own thing. I didn't want to be a shinobi that relied only on his taijutsu after all. I was far from being a ninjutsu or genjutsu master, but I wanted to be a jack of all trades. Only then I would find a field that I was very talented in and go crazy in it. I hoped it would be fuinjutsu, but it was too soon to tell.

"Hey sensei." I started, stretching my legs and slowly trailing my hands coated in medical chakra along with my muscles. The new weights had forced me to push a little more than my body was equipped to handle.

With training, muscles _t__ore_ and regrew stronger. That required time, but the medical chakra was the final hack I could have wished for. I was able to speed up the regrowth process. That meant that, while I had to be _very_ careful, I didn't need to make very little steps in adding weight to my training regime.

Why didn't anyone do it? One, it could be done only on one's own body, since if I were to heal Hana's muscles after _extreme_ training, they would revert to their previous state. That was because an iryonin's chakra helped rebuild muscles taking as result a perfect diagnostic scan. In the scan, executed through being deep washed in medical chakra and as such not exactly practical, the tore muscles were the wound and the body of the patient offered as a solution the memory of when it was sane. That reasoning didn't make sense unless one considered how deep the influence of the soul was on the body. Healing yourself gave you a double perspective on the state of your body. I knew where my body was going, and I simply helped it along the way.

It was a nebulous topic and not one that I fully understood.

Reason two, it could be performed only until one reached the later phases of puberty after it meant aging faster at truly lethal rates. Why would puberty matter? Again, it's an effect of the soul. Until one reaches adulthood, both his yin and yang are in continuous mutation, circling each other, growing, spinning, twirling, whatever metaphysical shit went down that road. And as such, life force wasn't reduced by repeated processes of wound-healing until it reached its peak at the end of puberty. And that was probably why Jinchuriki were created with children as young as possible. The introduction of a secondary source of chakra would destroy every adult.

Yes, Obito did it when he was an adult, as did Madara, but then there were both Mokuton and Rinnegan in the game, so I suspected they were necessary for something. And for the same reason, removing a biju from a jinchuriki would kill the host.

However, my trick had meant that while I didn't train constantly only my body 'Lee Style' I was almost on par with his rate of growth. It would take me more time, but I would reach Guy's level. After all, he was the best teacher I could have wished for, he had a bit of overbearing personality, but nobody was perfect.

"Yes, my most youthful student!?" the answer of my sensei distracted me from my reflections and remembered me what I was about to ask.

"I have sparring set up five minutes from now on training ground eight. Could you observe and point out our flaws when we finish?"

My sensei too big eyes started to water. He snuffed. "How youthful, my students w..."

I tuned him out with practiced ease, and I turned my head up looking at the cloudless sky. The night had been windy and there was a thrilling chill in the air. It was a good morning for a spar.

From the drivel my sensei was sprouting about friendship, I deduced that he agreed to watch my spar, and teach me more after. So I was set for the day. I started running toward the training ground 8, my sensei on my side.

I dug deep into the drivel the main characters of Naruto were always sprouting and turned at my sensei with pleading eyes. "Sensei, someone asked me to... watch over someone dear to him. And asked for the spar to see for himself if he could entrust a life into my hands... It's in preparation of a life and death situation, can I use _it_ ?"

His expression grew serious like I had come to learn happened when it was necessary. "Who is the one that you are sparring with?" He asked with narrowed eyes.

But we had arrived at the training ground, and Itachi was already there. My sensei' eyes grew wide recognizing the young prodigy, and gave me permission with a slow nod. Then he reverted to his 'extremely youthful' standard personality.

After a long time spent introducing himself, my sensei stepped aside, leaving us space.

I was dressed in my standard uniform for long term missions. Boots with blackened steel tips, long cargo pants of a dark brown, held tight below the knee by wrapped bandages, so that they wouldn't rustle. Sleeveless chainmail under a baggy shirt with the sleeves cut halfway, my arms wrapped in bandages and armguards. Fingerless gloves with a steel plate, and over it a hoodie made with a tear and water-resistant dark green material, with grey streaks breaking the monotony of the single color. It had a deep hood that I raised only when it rained. Shin had insisted, it was our camouflage expert after all.

For the same reason, I had rubbed my headband with the leaf symbol with a mixture of charcoal and soda wash, making it of a dull grey instead of the shiny steel it was when I first earned it. My long hair was tied into a tight braid at the base of my skull and reached my lower back, at the end of it there was a steel point. My chakra control was good enough to direct it through my hair into a bastardized version of Jiraya's Hair Jizō.

I started needing Tiger, Horse, Boar, Ram, Rat and Snake. And I was grateful I remembered those from the manga, and I tinkered with it until I managed to mold my chakra without hand seals. My braid acted more like a mesh between a whip and a fifth limb than the perfect shield it was capable of becoming. But it was a work in progress.

I quickly divested myself from my boots and the hoodie, before unwrapping the end of my trousers and taking down even those weights.

I rewrapped the bandages around the lower end of my trousers after sealing away my clothes into an empty storage scroll that found its way back to my belt.

I rolled my shoulders and jumped a couple of times, to get used to feeling so light out of the blue.

Itachi had looked me impassively the whole time, with his half-lidded eyes that somehow did manage to convey his irritation. Hehe_, making him wait was a must. _I knew he was an Anbu captain already, if only because Danzō needed a spy among the Uchiha that other Anbu agents couldn't question.

There were two things I was truly good at, or at least, comparatively better than my other skills: Taijutsu, and dispelling genjutsu, even high ranked ones. Why? The first explained itself. The second? I was paranoid. And terrified to be trapped into a genjutsu a là Matrix. So I worked my ass off to become good at unraveling genjutsu. I was still young to be a ninjutsu monster since my coils were still developing, and my genjutsus were not battle-ready. I also didn't want to rely on my Illusion, it was a kind of secret resource.

Itachi? I was presuming that he was good at _everything_.

We assumed the Salute position, we stood at ten meters of distance from each other and assumed the half ram sign with our right hand.

"Ready? Begin!" thundered Guy sensei.

I shot forward as fast as thought, opening with a high knee shot at the face of Itachi. He bent backward and tried to land a punch on my uncovered back, my braid whipped at his arm and if it wasn't for his arm guard it would have bruised.

The first exchange had been a draw, even if Itachi still had to move from his position, he didn't need to raise an eyebrow to make clear that he was unimpressed. I recognized there the birth of the blank expression he would one day wield in battle. The one that said 'you are an ant beneath my notice, I'll walk over your dead bodies'. I charged again.

I opened with an open palm strike, and noticed external chakra trying to influence me, I fluctuated violently mine and broke through the genjutsu before it could even settle. He dodged on the left, I followed in a flurry of knees, kicks, elbows, and punches. He was never where my hit would have landed. It was like fighting the wind, even if he was far sharper in its movements. They were broken, without a pattern, and nonetheless effective.

After a while, he started answering. He was cautious, never exposing himself and attempting to strike only when he could keep his balance and guard up at the same time.

Punch, dodge, twirl, guarding with the elbow, intercepting the following kick. Kick, sidestep, jump over leg sweep, punch, swipe, disengage. Repeat.

He suddenly jumped back, his hands blurring, and spat at me a fireball.

I yanked at my chakra and molded it while throwing two kunai in the fire. I seallessly used kawarimi and switched myself with a pebble at the feet of the young Anbu captain, wincing internally at the added chakra cost from the sheer difference in mass. Landing, I impressed a standard explosive seal on another stone on the ground and followed through the whole Konoha's whirlwind kata, unable to hit him, but I didn't give him space, didn't let him breathe, nor gave him a single opening.

He started slashing with kunai in unpredictable patterns, that didn't manage to break my movements, but I faltered for an instant during which he managed to land a solid kick on the side of my head.

I rolled with it and jumped at him again, executing a slash from high to low over his head, he executed a perfect cross block with his forearms but was left open for my kick that... He _vanished_.

Suddenly he rose the speed of his movements and was at my back. With a desperate _tweak,_ I kawarimed with the stone that I marked before, which, disrupted by the chakra overlapping with the seal, exploded in Itachi's face.

He dodged the shrapnel without difficulties, and once more we stood at ten meters of distance.

His face was still blank, but the scuffle did get my blood running. I was excited. I was enjoying it.

I assumed a Muay Thai pose, distractedly noticing a surprising sound coming from my sensei. He never taught me anything similar. However in my first life I had read and watched a lot of different martial arts, and it had been reasonably easy to put together what Guy had taught me in a form that resembled it. I took a deep breath, reaching inward. Itachi was keeping his Sharingan active. Paranoid son of a bitch.

In my mind blossomed an idea. I kept gathering myself and started performing hand seals.

Horse, Boar, Ram, Rat, Tiger, Horse, Tiger, Dragon. I trust my right arm forward, using my left hand to grab tightly to my wrist like I needed a wast amount of concentration to direct my jutsu. "Ninpō!" I shouted. I rose my middle finger:" Fuck you no Jutsu!"

I heard Guy screaming 'Unyouthful!' and Itachi' eyes, which were a little wide, eager to _see_ what I was about to do, lost their Sharingan, and due to surprise, he _blinked_.

"Kaimon, kai." I whispered. And faster than ever, my knee slammed into the crossed guard of Itachi, broke through it, and pummeled him into the undergrowth. Releasing my breath, I closed the gate, returned in my waiting position, and half a second later I had a blade held against my throat. I laughed. "You're a scary kid, Itachi."

Our sensei called the match, I had lost.


	7. Meetings I

_2__1__-__ Year 8 AK (After Kyubi Attack)_

I left the camp before dawn scratching Alpha behind the ears while doing so. Soon I found myself into a clearing. I had all of my belonging stashed on my person. Storage scrolls were useful that way.

I sat cross-legged on the humid ground. Distractedly, I spun my chakra, letting it flow freely in a way that resonated with the water around me. The dew rose from the grass, following with familiarity my will, and spun around me lazily, the drops thinning and thinning until a light mist covered the clearing. That hadn't required me more energy than a single kawarimi.

I smiled, looking around to take in the result. My chakra affinity was water, and I had discovered it years before. The two levels of nature manipulation explained into the scrolls of Konoha's Shinobi Section of the Library came to me with little difficulty, surprisingly, I had my mind set on 'flowing with your emotions' basing myself more on waterbending than the actual chakra manipulation. My chakra passed through the mist like a net, and on it some of the water condensed. I brought my hands together, forming a rough cup, which filled itself with crystal clear fresh water. I drank it, relishing in my success.

Protected in the mist, I took off my fingerless glove and brought my arm forward, and started collecting the chakra in my hand.

Hands are complex things, in my informed opinion at least. Areas of the human hand include the palm, which is the central region of the anterior part of the hand, located superficially to the metacarpus. The skin in this area contains dermal papillae to increase friction, such as are also present on the fingers and used for opisthenar area (dorsal) is the corresponding area on the posterior part of the heel of the hand is the area anteriorly to the bases of the metacarpal bones, located in the proximal part of the palm. It is the area that sustains most pressure when using the palm for support, such as in handstand. There are five digits attached to the hand, notably with a nail fixed to the end in place of the normal claw. The four fingers can be folded over the palm which allows the grasping of objects. The thumb (connected to the first metacarpal bone and trapezium) is located on one of the sides, parallel to the arm. A reliable way of identifying human hands is from the presence of opposable thumbs. Opposable thumbs are identified by the ability to be brought opposite to the fingers, a muscle action is known as opposition The skeleton of the human hand consists of 27 bones the eight short carpal bones of the wrist are organized into a proximal row (scaphoid, lunate, triquetralandpisi form) which articulates with the bones of the forearm, and a distal row (trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, and hamate), which articulates with the bases of the five metacarpal bones of the hand. The heads of the metacarpals will each in turn articulate with the bases of the proximal phalanx of the fingers and thumb. These articulations with the fingers are the metacarpophalangeal joints known as the knuckles. At the palmar aspect of the first metacarpophalangeal joints are small, almost spherical bones called the sesamoid bones. The fourteen phalanges make up the fingers and thumb and are numbered I-V (thumb to little finger) when the hand is viewed from an anatomical position (palm up). The four fingers each consist of three phalanx bones: proximal, middle, and distal. The thumb only consists of a proximal and distal phalanx. Together with the phalanges of the fingers and thumb these metacarpal bones form five rays or poly-articulated chains. Because supination and pronation (rotation about the axis of the forearm) are added to the two axes of movements of the wrist, the ulna and radius are sometimes considered part of the skeleton of the hand. There are numerous sesamoid bones in the hand, small ossified nodes embedded in tendons; the exact number varies between people whereas a pair of sesamoid bones are found at virtually all thumb metacarpophalangeal joints, sesamoid bones are also common at the interphalangeal joint of the thumb and the metacarpophalangeal joints of the little finger and the index finger. In rare cases, sesamoid bones have been found in all the metacarpophalangeal joints and all distal interphalangeal joints except that of the long finger. The articulations are interphalangeal articulations of hand (the hinge joints between the bones of the digits) metacarpophalangeal joints (where the digits meet the palm) intercarpal articulations (where the palm meets the wrist).

And more than that, on each hand there were 57 tenketsus. Well, there were only 7 that one could channel his chakra through, the others were far too small, and they worked more 'reacting' to what you did with the 7 you had control over than anything else. That was why handseals made sense. Compressing the tenketsus of the hands in certain patterns while channeling chakra corked some tenketsus while letting others outpour chakra, the movements of the chakra on your hands reverberated? resonated? echoed? Along with your coils, shaping your chakra in a way that (for each set of hand seals) was optimal for a certain jutsu. That was why every jutsu felt a little bit forced when performed, at least in comparison to a seal-less one.

Then it came to the Rasengan, and it took me six months to learn it. It was a headache under the form of a happy blue thingy.

Rasengan required extremely refined chakra control, but not only that, it required the ability to sustain the 'charging' phase of the jutsu. This meant that you place your hand under a lot of stress and run the risk of rupturing your hand' chakra coils. For those reasons is difficult to master, at twelve, Naruto managed to learn it bull heading his way through. That is to say that a deaf person can learn how to play a song on the piano if he copies the movements enough times. Naruto had enhanced healing thanks to his status as jinchuriki, and enough raw chakra that he didn't have to bother with the control part. To help others gain the necessary chakra control, learning to use the Rasengan was broken into three steps: Rotation, the user learned to spin their chakra in multiple directions at once. To help in this regard, users may be given a water balloon so that they can mark their progress by the churning water; this step was complete once the users are able to burst the balloon with their chakra. The user needs to know which direction their body naturally spins its chakra for this step. Power: the user must increase the volume and density of chakra they output. To help in this regard, users may be given a rubber ball: there is no water inside to help them burst the exterior and the rubber shell was thicker than a balloon's. Containment: the user must combine the first two steps into a contained sphere. To help in this regard, users may be given a balloon to help them visualize the intended shape; if the balloon is popped or otherwise moves, mastery is not yet achieved. I had the greatest difficulties in the second step. If it is because I naturally poured out less chakra than necessary or because I disliked the idea of breaking rubber balls was still unclear. Managing to do it all in secret hadn't been easy either. I didn't want Jiraya of the sannin coming to know that someone bought water balloons and rubber balls in bulk, so I stole one here and there, leaving the money in the pockets of the owner. It had been a good training method, but in my team I was the one specialized in subterfuge, as such, pickpocketing was right down my alley.

Slowly but surely, a spiraling ball of bright light blue chakra formed in my palm. And once it stabilized itself, I stopped pouring chakra into the jutsu. It was honestly beautiful. The deep humming of it was soothing too. I grimaced at the thought of it grinding through meat and bones like it was designed to do.

I let the technique dissipate, I wanted to try and create a Suiton: Rasengan, but I knew that the first attempts would probably backfire spectacularly, and for that reason, I needed to be able to produce a Kage Bunshin. Sadly, it was a kinjutsu, and as such, not only it wasn't common knowledge, but if I suddenly came to know it, it would have raised questions.

With a twist of my wrist, some of the mist condensed into a razor-sharp, tiny wire, and cut off a leaf from a tree over my head. I tried to turn the cutting tool into a flowing current that the leaf should have sailed to reach my hand, but I managed to drench the leaf and making it fall faster. My intent was still not well meshed with the shape manipulation of suiton chakra. But considering that it was something I had never heard about before, it was pretty cool.

I reached over for the leaf and brought it among my closed palms. My mind drifted to 'windy' thoughts. A gale, a kite, the meadows flattening under the force of the wind, trees being uprooted, branches lightly dancing and leaves delicately twirling. Then I turned my attention inward, and focused on the chakra in my hands. Making it 'sharp' and grinding one against the other, sharpening it further. I pictured the edge of a blade, clouds gathering, cloaks billowing, the howling of the wind itself. I noticed my chakra finally taking a 'direction' different from the one it took when it _flowed _into the suiton form. It _freed_ itself on a path I was growing increasingly familiar with. I exerted that _feel_ on the leaf between my palms, before letting it go. I opened my hands, finding that the leaf had been cut halfway through.

I frowned. "Why not until the end?" I asked myself. Then I noticed a thin red line on my left palm and grimaced. "Unbalanced." I answered my previous question.

I healed myself and brought the half-cut leaf among my palms once again.

Falling into myself, I reached for the pit of my stomach, visualizing a tiny ember. I went with my mind to the Suna desert, that we had crossed years before to carry a letter. The heavy heat of a sun that didn't now mercy. The sheer dryness of the air, the scorching heat of a fireball signing my hair during a scuffle, the reassuring warmth of a campfire. The stones turned cherry red into the fire that we dropped into a pot of water to make stew. The hunger of the three days no stops run of a few weeks before when we got separated by our sensei and needed to lose pursuers. The _need_ to grow. The _rage_ at the sheer violence that permeated this world I ended up in. The burning sensation of muscles in the middle of training, the scorching hot feel of sensei' punches grazing me. I felt the change more easily this time, my neutral chakra _growing _hotter and climbing up from my stomach, looking for fresh air to consume. Carefully and slowly, I controlled the output, constricting the fire so that the only direction it could grow into was my arms. It reached my palms, and the leaf _sizzled_. I opened my palms without letting go of the feeling, and my palms were cherry red, with the smoldering remains of the leaf on them. With a smile, I smothered the Katon chakra. It didn't require me less effort than wind, but I had received tips from Shin, that for his pyromaniac joy was a fire natured shinobi. I had to make do with scrolls from the library for both my water and wind natured training. Sure, the first was my natural affinity and for the second I had made liberal use of what Asuma had explained to Naruto in the manga.

I still had to begin with Doton and Raiton, but I had time before shit started hitting the fan. I still had three months of patrol duty, during which I wanted to finish the second stage of elemental training for both wind and fire. Then I would go with Raiton, trying to find a way to perform elemental combination techniques on my own on the side.

"Daiki!" A voice sounded through the woods. _Hana._ I correctly identified her. I dispersed my mist and flickered next to her. She threw a punch on reflex to the sudden apparition. Following my routine, I nimbly dodged and smacked her on the ass. She squealed in surprise before actually _growling_ at me. "Stop sneaking up on me to..!" she interrupted to swing a solid punch at me.

"I don't sneak up." I flippantly answered. "And you should always cover your rear." I answered with an evil grin. Not that I was into fourteen years old, but these people needed a sexual revolution. If every woman was so uptight as I saw in the manga getting laid randomly would be very difficult. _Well, there are always whores_. I reassured myself. It also disturbed me greatly that almost every single man in Konoha was a pervert, at least basing myself on the manga. Then, let us put it. The life of a shinobi, or kunoichi, grants someone _the_ perfect ass. _Well, unless you're an Akimichi._ I corrected myself. I remembered that Jiraya's motivation to take seriously his training had been 'getting all the girls', I could relate, easily.

"Is he still flirting?" Shin asked, appearing perched on a branch over our heads. "And failing at it." I happily added. Enjoying the scandalous blush on Hana's face. _Teens._ I snorted, dodging another punch.

"You can play later, we need to return home, sensei received a missive through a monkey summon." Shin quickly cut us apart.

"A monkey summon? That means directly from the Hokage right?" I asked. At their nods, I flickered over to the camp, quickly sealing away my possessions. "That explains why a messenger managed to find us, he _is_ a scary old man after all."

"Don't be disrespectful!" Hana scolded me.

"Do you see a lot of sixty years old shinobi walking around? His age is a testament to his skill." I quickly answered.

"Where is sensei?" I then asked.

"He moved south with Hai, Ma and Ru, it will be... fifteen clicks by now, but we have a clean road thanks to him, so we'll catch up quickly," Hana answered.

I finished gathering my things and we were bloting through the branches. "You can't just call them like that because they are the Haimaru brothers." I objected. Alpha, Beta and Gamma worked wonderfully. "Well, they _are_ her ninkens." Shin butted in.

He earned himself a nasty glare from me. Alpha was a good name. If only to remark that he was smarter than the other two.

"You do realize that technically this will be a failed mission, yes?" I swiftly changed the topic. By their sudden frowns and protests, I guessed that they didn't make the connection, so I elaborated.

"We were supposed to go 6 months incommunicado, with sensei to supervise, swiping through whatever shit we found. They were making us a six units hunt squad, and once we climbed the ranking ladder high enough we would have been asked to become hunter nin."

"That's why we wouldn't have had to pass the chunin exams to be promoted?" Shin acutely pointed out "So that we could stay off the bingo books?"

I nodded. "It looked like these six months were our examination."

"But then why stopping us?"Hana asked, rightfully confused. "It can't be cheap keeping sensei off the roosters for much longer." After all, while the bulk of the money to the Hokage Tower came by a vast number of D and C ranks, it was high ranked shinobi and A-ranked missions that brought the advertising and the following best jobs, even the S ranked, but those couldn't be discussed.

"So, sensei is spearheading the road for us." I recapped, following the trail he knowingly left. "Is this because the message made him regress to his hyper-protective behavior, or because we are needed in Konoha asap?"

Nobody answered since the answer to both questions pointed out that _something _happened. In the shinobi' world, that usually meant bad news. And I had an idea about _what_ exactly had happened.

* * *

We had reached Guy sensei by midday, the man was just _that _fast. And then we had run straight towards the village, cutting through whatever happened to be on the way. We run over the roofs of a rural little village, we severely crippled a very unlucky group of bandits which was likely made up by academy dropouts. We went ahead with food pills and I condensed water from the air into our bottles. We didn't sleep or stop to take a shit, for a whole week. Our group of seven, with sensei opening the way, was like a battering ram through the glass that was the vast forest of Hi no Kuni. By the fourth day, my teammates started getting sloppy with their chakra control, leaving marks on the branches, or faltering here and there. The Haimaru brothers and sensei righted them up every time. For the first two days and nights, I kept up my natural chakra training. Changing from neutral to water, then going back to normal. Then fire, wind. Then I sprouted a killing headache and I kept myself at a steady pace, letting my mind numb down, so that I was only focused on following the orange leg warmers of Guy. We proceeded in silence, for two reasons: one, not wasting breath, two not announcing our presence to others in the area. I think we crossed a road upon which a jonin sensei was walking with his team, escorting a caravan. Probably Guy had exchanged communication with sign language, because their sensei didn't intervene. There had been some rain on the fifth day, which managed to awaken me a little, and with a twitch of my chakra I filled to the brim our supply of water. Surprisingly or not, it looked like the 'just keep going' state aided my Suiton. It was something to look into.

On the morning of the eighth day, we stopped at the gate of the village, and while sensei was signing in our return, I swiftly dragged medical chakra on my legs, relishing in the fresh sensation. They weren't rested, and the mental fatigue was still there, but at least running through half of Hi no Kuni at high speed with my weights on had still been an effective training. The Haimaru brothers were the ones that reacted better to the intensive workload. But then, they always had only to train their bodies, since their techniques were all Yang based, and Hana was the one to provide the Ying component.

A whole week with a silent Guy sensei was a strange as fuck thing for everyone. Nevertheless, every dream must vanish when one wakes up.

"My youthful students!" He started, "I'll race you to the Hokage's office, where we have been summoned! Ready? Go!" And he was off.

Hana was dead on her feet, so I most gracefully circled a bit of healing chakra through her legs. While I was treating her, Shin whined: "Why do you always heal her first?"

"Because she has nicer legs." I answered with a croaking voice. A week of silence will do that to anybody. Hana was so tired that she didn't even punch me, choosing to glare at me hatefully instead. I chuckled and moved over to Shin, only numbing down the pain. Then we too followed our sensei to the Hokage Tower. While on the roofs, I stole a glance at the Uchiha compound. Wooden planks over the windows, paper doors still broken.

I sighed. I was a great sustainer of personal freedom, meaning that everyone was entitled to their choices. _But goddamit I__tachi, wh__at's the point of doing that?_

We reached the lobby and nodded to the secretary, who watched us with a blank expression but nodded nonetheless, directing us to the office. It wasn't necessary to point out that his secretary was an Anbu, tasked with raising the alarm in case of an attempt of attack. I managed to contain a snort. As if _anyone_ could wish to face the Sandaime.

Even with the Anbu ninjas without a doubt hidden around, the total of five shinobi, and three _very_ big dogs, the Hokage's office managed to not look overcrowded.

It was a circular room, with a tall library behind the desk where the Hokage was currently sitting, on the left of which stood an impressive pile of paperwork, and by the angry puffing of his pipe, I deduced that it was still to be completed. The door we came through had tall windows on both sides, and the left one allowed the Hokage to see the mountain with the faces of the others that had shared the job. On the walls sat pictures of the ones that had held the weight of the hat.

There was even a pot of freshly picked flowers, and if I knew something about bouquet composition, I would even have known its meaning. Then I looked at the Man with the Hat. In the brief second that I had spent taking in the environment he had all the time necessary to look us over. He slightly narrowed his eye when his gaze went over Shin. "Are you drunk, boy?" He asked. Shin spluttered.

The question was so unexpected, and the reaction of my teammate so genuine, that I had to cough into my hand to mask a laugh. Hana's answer, however, was the best. Forgetting her fatigue, she whirled on him with a thunderous expression.

Sniffing suspiciously in his direction, before looking sternly not at him, but at the Haimaru brothers, her mind busy coming up with a reason for which they had neglected to mention that fact to her. Since she probably had been able to pick up something, it was a sure thing that the ninkens had been able to do the same.

"Wait, you are drunk?" I asked, it was hilarious, but I too didn't notice anything that resembled a drunken behavior. Unless...

"How come you didn' tell me?" Hana asked in the meantime at her dogs, who chorused whining of various kind, and beta dared even attempt a friendly lick on her hand. He had always been a suck-up for authority. "No shit he promised you food in exchange!" she screamed at them.

I grimaced. "Hana, do not curse in front of the Hokage."

She whirled on me and just pointed her forefinger. "You shut up! You're the one who taught me to curse anyway!"

I wisely shut up raising my hands in defeat: "Hey that was for training, and don't bark up to my tree! He's the drunk one!"

She was annoyed by my 'bark' remark, but she turned on Shin, who was rightfully furious at me for having thrown him to the wolves. _Eh, ninkens and an angry bitch, close enough_. I remarked into the safe borders of my head.

"Hey I'm not drunk!" Shin objected, before deflating a bit "Just a tiny tiny bit tipsy. Maybe."

"But how? We've been running for a week straight." I pointed out, honestly curious, while I made my way over, my hand glowing green and checking his bloodstream. "A bit tipsy?" I asked sardonically, before moving to his liver. He was perfectly sane, even if it baffled me how sensei hadn't picked it up.

"I've been training." He murmured, looking with a defeated demeanor at the ground.

Suddenly, in my head a thought clicked: _D__idn't Rock Lee got drunk and kicked ass once?_

Before Hana could begin her tongue lashing anew I cut her off: "Only for taijutsu? Or does it boost your Katon too?"

He grinned at me, making clear that his positive answer was to my second question. But I was hardly going to let him go unscathed. "Yes, I understand that since you're feeling guilty you're treating the whole team to BBQ, and not the cheap one." I nodded sagely. He was about to protest when he noticed the increasing frown on Hana's face and stopped. He sighed and nodded his assent.

"I still don't like having an alcoholic as a teammate." She protested.

"I'm not an alcoholic, I just happen to like to drink." Shin frowned at her, managing to look both offended by her remark and proud of his brilliant use of sake.

"That's the definition of alcoholism." I sighed, pinching my nose and feeling my headache returning with a vengeance.

A deep belly laugh reminded us that we weren't alone. _Uh, that explains also why Guy sensei isn't singing praises around our youthful bantering._ Was my first thought.

_Shit we're in front of the Hokage!_ Was the second.

"You've done a good job with them, Guy-kun." The old shinobi said.

"Yosh! It's been the most youthful team effort Sandaime-sama!" My sensei... obviously... answered.

"Yeah, sensei, out of three dogs and three humans only one human became an alcoholic." I quipped in.

Hana slapped a hand on my mouth. I frowned, it wasn't like they weren't used to my sarcasm, not only the years together as a team forced us to get to know each other. Risking your life with someone did make you closer to that person. And during the last three months, we had been forced to stay _only_ with each other.

Then I remembered that we had fooled around enough for our first private encounter with one of the most powerful men to have ever lived. I grimaced a bit.

And at the raised eyebrow of the man, and the absolutely out of character scolding look Guy sensei threw at me, I knew it was uncalled for. When Hana let me, I slightly bowed: "I humbly apologize."

The Hokage let a second pass in silence, before rising from his chair and making his way towards me. His 'presence' in the room thickened. It wasn't killing intent, nor the foreboding feeling of a shinobi with a larger than normal chakra capacity turning his attention on you. It felt almost like being underwater, but more like when your ears get corked due to a shift in the pressure. "I don't think you have a humble bone in your whole body, Daiki-kun." He commented. Looking at my teammates, I saw them trembling slightly, but neither of us could move.

"Why, from what I know, instead of letting other children use eatslug as a nickname you went as far as claiming it as your surname." He recounted, and his presence receded, even in that 'heated' moments, I noticed the surprised look that blossomed on my teammates' faces. I would need to explain that.

_Was that the thing I do to sense people around me? __How the hell does he know about me?_ _Did he have me followed? _I asked myself, my old paranoid tendencies rising again.

"May I see your hands, Daiki-kun?" He asked.

I wordlessly brought my hands forward. Because when the motherfucking Hokage makes a polite request, it's a politely phrased absolute order.

He hummed, taking my calloused hands in his marred by countless years of war. He turned them up and down, lightly trailing his finger over where I had cut myself practicing the change in chakra nature.

"It's been some time since I've seen hands that resemble mine." He mused. "Suiton...Katon, and even Fūton?"

I wordlessly nodded. It was mindblowing that he could read so much in so little. "You don't use handseals often do you?" he asked then, releasing my hands.

"Not often and not all the necessary ones, no." I quietly answered.

The Hokage sat back into his chair and lit up his pipe with a flare of chakra fire natured. Obviously, no hand signs.

"You have been recalled for a reason." He said. And his tone meant business.

We straightened up and assumed a stand by position, arms crossed behind our backs, feet at shoulder width and staring into the void in front of us.

"In a month the chunin exams will be held in Iwa. You will go, accompanied by Kakashi Hatake, who will be an impartial judge of your performance, and upon which judgment I'll base your possible promotion. Nevertheless, the final part of your exam will be, like it always is a tournament of some sort. Your B ranked mission will be winning said tournament." He blew a perfect circle of smoke, that changed its shape and turned into the kanji for 'fire'. "Questions?"

_That is a crazy strange chakra thingy. Only shape manipulation? No, he somehow laced the smoke with his chakra! _I quickly analyzed it.

"Does it have anything to do with the closing down of the Uchiha' District?" Shin asked. _So he noticed it too? Good._ I was honestly surprised he had picked it up.

The sharp gaze of the Sandaime closed on him, evaluating what to tell us. He sighed, nodding to himself. "Observant too." He mumbled.

"Two weeks ago, Itachi and Shishui Uchiha betrayed Konoha, killing off their clan in the process, they are currently two S ranked missing-nin, on their way out they... collided, with two genin teams ready for promotion, and they'll be incapacitated for another six months." He grimly explained.

I blinked. _Shishui?_ _What the fuck?_ That was a big change in the storyline of the Narutoverse.

"Survivors?" Shino asked, his analytical mind coming through what was left of his alcohol induced daze.

"One." Sarutobi replied arching an eyebrow. I was so grateful that Shin was the one making questions.

"The other villages will learn about it soon if they hadn't already." I jumped into the fray, dragging the attention of the powerful shinobi on myself. "So the chunin exams are a show of strength."

The Sandaime gaze bored into me for an instant, before turning to Guy once more. "You've done a really good job with them."

While our sensei was preening youthfully under the praise, Hana cleared her throat. "Why call us back a whole month before the exams? We could have keep up the mission and went straight to Iwa from the border."

"Because I wanted you to know what was at stake, our reputation, and every message can be intercepted. And because in the village, with a month of preparation, I wanted you to learn something flashy, suited to properly impress our future customers."

I stifled groan, I didn't do 'flashy'. Like hell I was going to use the Rasengan, and while I could use with some measure of safety the first five gates if only for a brief period, they left me battered. That was another reason why I didn't like the chunin exams. This whole 'advertisement' part was just stupid. Yeah, I got it, shinobi in this world were more like foot soldiers highly reliant on stealth, so it wasn't unreasonable that there were situations that required large scale destruction. Still, I disliked it. Why throwing a giant fireball when overheating the brain of the target did the same job with a fraction of the effort. Besides, it was... less clean.

I shuddered. _How far have I come? To consider how much more elegant is killing someone with the least amount of force necessary..._

But I recognized an opportunity when I saw one. "I've been working on my original elemental jutsu. The theory is sound, and it's... uncharacteristically flashy, for me. I've hit a snag with the testing, however, since until I properly learn it the middle results will be highly unstable and could either kill me, rupture my chakra coils, completely dry me of chakra, make my blood vessels explode, or simply go boom killing everything in three meters radius. Is there some kind of... I don't know, seal maybe? That can help? Or a way to drastically increase my chakra reserves different from the long road of constant exercise? Or at least a way to infuse my Suiton Bushins with roughly half of my chakra? It's very demanding and I cant make my clones strong enough to perform it." And as an afterthought, I remembered exactly _who_ I was trying to play, and added a hasty "Hokage-sama."

"We can do better, I can go with you over your handseals, and lend you my expertise, Daiki-kun." He counter-offered.

I grimaced. "You can't." I blurted out, a bit resigned.

Before anyone, and most of all Sarutobi himself could take offense at my words, I shook my hands in a pleading, panicked expression: "It's just that it doesn't have any hand signs! Not that you can't learn it, Hokage-sama, even if it is my first original work and I'd have liked to keep it for myself, but it's a super honor that _you _would offer to help. I mean it's you, and you probably have forgotten more about being a shinobi than what I'll ever learn in my life, and now I'm rambling and I'll shut up. I'm sorry Hokage-sama." I bowed at the waist, I was honestly nervous, not that much for my saying to the motherfucking Hokage that he couldn't do something, but more about the subtle way through which I prodded him to let me learn the Kage Bunshin.

"I presume it's a suiton jutsu?" The Sandaime asked. At my nod, he spoke again: "Tomorrow at zero five hundred, training ground eleven."

I bowed. This time the order wasn't disguised as a question.


	8. Meetings II

_2__8__-__ Year 8 AK_

Right after we met with the Hokage, we left the office and scattered. Shin wanted to get a headstart on possible ventures in Iwa his family could get a profit out of, Hana and the Haimaru brothers simply missed the kennels, and sensei was going to search for a friendly spar. Whoever accepted was in for a lot of pain, no doubt. With a side dish of helpful suggestions that managed to sound extremely patronizing without Guy meaning it one bit.

Those were the reasons everyone gave. What I know for sure my teammates did, was find a bed and sleep for twelve hours straight. How do I know? Because I found myself the nearest park, recovered my sleeping bag and unrolled it on the grass. I slept in the sunshine, over my sleeping bag, with my arms crossed behind my head. I probably was the image of relaxing, when I simply shut down, unable to stay awake a moment longer, and feeling the strain of the travel.

I had weathered it better than my teammates, but only because Shin was drunk, meaning that he probably had been struggling to keep his chakra flowing evenly from day one. And we simply put more time in our physical conditioning than Hana, who had to spend a lot of time in learning all the nuances to become a vet, not only a med nin. And she insisted to become proficient in doton ninjutsu too. Along with that, the Inuzuka learned her family techniques, and working with her ninkens, took the bulk of the scouting job. So she always had a lot on her plate. Even if she managed to somewhat keep up with the trick we discovered with muscle regeneration. None in my team was a pushover.

It made me think about how I could enhance my body in other ways. More limbs were out of the equation, they would mess up my balance and I would need to create a taijutsu style from scratch. But Orochimaru was proof that one could do _a lot _of things to his own body. Even Konan from Akatsuki, the woman was able to become a cloud of slips of paper, for god's sake. But maybe eyes better equipped to see in the pitch darkness? Even if a tail would be cool in some way, mostly because it would freak out everyone.

I awoke in the middle of the afternoon, feeling stiff for the weight of the travel. I stretched myself and sealed my stuff away once more. I reached a cheap hotel and checked in for the following week. It wasn't like I was going to leave any of my stuff around, I liked having all of my belongings on me, but a bathroom was nothing to scoff at. Not after the week I had passed. I took a hard look at my clothes, which smelled by the way, and while they were not in tatters, I hadn't done them any favors during my training. I sighed. _Shopping it is._

My most prized possession, and the only one that I couldn't replace, were the weights that Guy sensei had gifted us. They were inscribed with seals, exactly like the ones Lee's would one day wear. I had two sets that circled my legs, and I moved them one day under the knee, one day above. Two smaller sets on my forearms, and a plaque that I brought on my back. It was a narrow thing that fitted in the upper half of my back, allowing me almost complete freedom of movement.

The following morning I had started a set of exercises at 4:00 am sharp, already in the training ground eleven. It wouldn't do to be late after all. If there was something that my team did not lack, it was endurance and the ability to quickly recover.

Training ground 11 had an abundance of water: from a waterfall that rumbled on a rocky cliff, a river broke into small streams that resolved themselves into ponds, puddles, and even a marsh, with its distinctive reeds, and sedges. The rest of the wet terrain was instead an actual swamp, with tall trees hiding the sky from view. _It can't be said that the higher-ups don't wish their ninjas to be anything but ready to fight everywhere._ I drily noted. I sat down on a pond in what I esteemed was the rough center of the training ground.

The delicate control I was exercising on my chakra made the surface of the water as solid as stone. I started breathing slowly, the water rippling from time to time when my concentration faded. At first I simply thought about what I was hopefully going to learn.

Once I had the single Kage Bunshin down, if my chakra could handle it, I would try to figure out the multiple Kage bunshin part. But that wasn't really what I needed right away. I knew that I had a normal-sized chakra pool, so I wouldn't be spamming more than a single clone anytime soon. What I knew from the manga was that every clone you created started with the half chakra of the original. There was however a minimal requirement to create a Kage Bunshin, and that meant that one needed to have at least double that requirement in his chakra pool. Sure, I could for a brief time open the gates to use more chakra than normal, but I didn't know what kind of effect it would have. After all the bunshin was made of pure chakra, so It didn't have eight gates. It had to have chakra coils since otherwise, it wouldn't have been able to perform jutsus, but opening and closing the gates was not something one could do like a jutsu. It was more like knowing to move only a single muscle on the side of the nose. I knew that the Kage Bunshin was far less complex than what such a scary jutsu deserved to be, since... well Naruto was an idiot. If he could figure it out at twelve from a scroll, I would bloody be able to do the same.

After what the position of the sun told me had been 4 hours, I was still alone. However, I had seen far too many movies of cranky mysterious masters of their art that assigned strange tasks to their students. Being left to wait was far from the worst that could have happened. Besides, it was unlikely that the Sandaime himself would come, he probably had ordered some of the lower-ranked shinobi to come and give me a hand. However, I truly hoped that I was going to be taught the Kage Bunshin. It was substantially different from the mental based. It probably carried within itself a far more heavy Yin component, maybe the ratio would even be closer to 50%.

But I wanted to try my Suiton: Rasengan. So whichever method they offered me to try it out without dying would be more than welcome.

Rooting myself at the moment, I let go of my future considerations and placed a hand on the surface of the water, pouring a silver of my chakra in the liquid.

I lifted my hand slightly, my fingertips still connected to the water below.

Tiny droplets of water rose in the air, floating aimlessly at the height of my shoulder. I could feel each one of them. Because of that wisp of chakra in each of them, they were not simply connected to me, but my chakra _was_ the droplets.

Following a gut instinct, I had them circle me, thinning and joining one with another, they formed a thread, invisible if not for a light sheen, less thick than ninja wire, and far more useful than it. It spun in a circle around me, and it kept expanding, taking the necessary water from the damp environment, it soon reached a thirty meters radius. The feel of it was a cross between trailing my fingers over the surfaces it met and what I imagined would a sonar feel if I had one in my head.

I let myself fall into the lull I found myself in during the travel from the border to Konoha. It had a marvelous effect: my attention was equally shared among regulating my breathing, the feedback from my line of water, the control I had to exercise to keep myself sitting on the pond, and the slow-flowing of the chakra in my gut. I wasn't doing anything with it, it simply was twirling around my body with a steady rhythm. It was running through my veins along with my blood, and my body was in a perfectly balanced enhanced state.

Usually, when someone uses chakra to strengthen oneself, it tends to pool unevenly in the limbs, snapping like a coil upon impact. Sure, the joints are always equally reinforced, it was stupid to throw a chakra enhanced punch only to dislocate your knees. Every hit made leverage somewhere after all.

I froze, going over my last thoughts with a confused frown marring my features. I had thought something that could be... _my chakra flowed with my blood_.

Suiton user always had one difficulty above all. Taking water out of thin air required either _vast_ amounts of chakra or an _outstanding_ control. I had some of the latter, but why put myself through such a struggle? The human body was 60% water. A male adult had roughly five liters if blood running through his veins. A liter could be shed without risking death. And that was for civilians, a ninja, with enhanced regenerative abilities, without even talking about how I could use medical chakra to increase the blood production, would last much longer. Hell, even a blood pill.

It was a disgusting, but fascinating new perspective. Under this point of view, once I killed an enemy I could find a way to extract water from his body. It couldn't be done before the death since their chakra would naturally oppose mine. _Unless I synched myself with them like I do when I heal someone else. _I thoughtfully considered.

_I wonder if this is how Orochimaru got started._ I distractedly commented. I lacked his natural sadism and obsession with red eyes, but the ability to think truly horrific things were there.

I opened my eyes and abruptly raised my other arm upwards, skillfully rising a thick mist around myself. It didn't reach the border of my line of water, but it hid me from view. I rose from my seated position, thoughtlessly circulating my chakra to dispel the stiffness. From the tip of my fingers rose a chakra scalpel, faintly glowing blue. _Another strange thing is the blue coloration of chakra._ I thought, noticing the difference in comparison with the medical one, which glowed of faint green light.

I nicked my other arm and dispelled the scalpel.

I let the blood drip into my cupped hand. Looking at the cut, I prodded around the area with my chakra, and finding the nearest tenketsu, I poured out a delicate flare of medical chakra. With deep satisfaction, I looked at my wound closing. Even if the feeling was unsettling, the skin is not meant to knit itself together that fast.

I focused on the blood in my cupped hand and pocked it with my chakra. It didn't react, simply starting the clotting process faster.

_There is still my chakra in the blood, and gifting more energy to it only makes it work faster._ Even if its strength was quickly dimming. I couldn't manipulate my blood, but I only needed to extract the water in it. How could I? Even the single drop I could raise from a puddle was ready-made of water.

After a few minutes, I found my answer. After all I already knew how to separate a toxin from the bloodstream. Now I only needed to tweak it so that it could suit me. Slowly I started to make my chakra spin the blood clockwise, while 'calling' for the water to move in the opposite direction. After the training I underwent to learn the Rasengan, it was easier than it might sound. Soon after, I held a spinning circle of darkish red... something, and above it, one of crystal clear water. The quantity was negligible, however, it was something that I could use in emergencies. I had a stony determination that made me push forward.

"Distasteful." I commented. I dropped the dirty hand into the pond, keeping up the water distilled from my blood. It didn't feel any different than normal.

Thoughtfully, I let it fall.

I popped out a food pill and ingested it thoughtfully. It was late, almost midday.

A ripple in my line of water warned me that something was approaching. _Maybe I could layer two lines so that I could estimate the speed of the trespasser. _I noted.

"Yo." He greeted me.

_67,5 kg.181 cm. Masked. Leaf band. Identified as Kakashi. _I quickly thought, the training stopping me from jumping in surprise.

I smiled. "Yo, to you too." I flippantly answered.

_Good news: the Hokage didn't order my death. Bad news: I've clearly been too heavy-handed in prodding him towards the Kage Bunshin, and Kakashi is here to question me discretely. _I reasoned.

_And probably execute me if I am deemed a threat._

I wasn't strong enough to survive an attempt on my life made by any elite jonin, I knew that.

"I'm guessing Hokage-sama sent you?" I asked, forcing myself to remember the honorific.

The scarecrow with gravity-defying silver hair eye smiled at me and stood silent. _This is going to get old pretty fast._

I choose to go without displaying my growing fear of being about to be killed. _Fear is the mind-killer._ I reminded myself.

"I need a way to perform a highly unstable suiton jutsu, which is likely to backfire the first times. I should get the hang of it pretty quickly."

Still, silently, the Copy-ninja brought his hands together in a strange cross-shaped seal. It was probably unique to this technique. I had read about modifying hand seals, but it was very far from my area of expertise.

I copied it, and pushed just a little bit of chakra into it, feeling like I was trying to break through a thick stone wall of some kind. I let go, I wasn't eager to burst my chakra coils due to a misused hand seal after all.

I brought all my attention to Kakashi, pouring all of my sensing ability on him. He was kind enough to wait to form me before actually performing the technique. I couldn't get a read of him. While even guy sensei was somewhat hidden from my reads, I still used to get some kind of feedback. One that spoke of an unrelenting hunter, with Kakashi, I got nothing. I knew he was there, sure, but I got the feeling that I was seeing only what he wanted me to. In this case, only how he was molding his chakra. He pressured _ was what I started doing._

Then he pushed it so that it would stand taller than the 'thick stone wall" that I felt before, then he started _folding_ it over the edge. The part grinding on the top of the wall got thinner and thinner, while the mass of chakra on the outer side of the wall took shape.

When there was only a strand left connecting the two chakras, with a tiny wisp of smoke, appeared a bunshin of Kakashi, already eye smiling at me.

"This is the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." The original one said.

"But he already knew that." the copy added, looking at the first scarecrow ninja. They both turned on me, and if it wasn't for the subtle killing intent I would have laughed for the resemblance with the Weasley Twins. _Time to start bullshitting my way through this mess._

I shrugged. "I heard of it years ago, I'm an infiltration specialist, ninjas that can't hold their alcohol shouldn't drink."

The shinobi tilted his head, dispelling his clone: "And why shouldn't you be put under arrest for stealing village secrets?"

I blinked. "Because he wasn't drunk? I thought it was a test or a way to train me how to find out information without raising suspects."

The single eye on the face of the older shinobi narrowed. "When. Names. Where." He succinctly ordered me to provide.

"The day Guy sensei told me I was going to be a team 10 specialist in Thieving and Subterfuge. I tried my hand at Subterfuge since I was forbidden from stealing from civilians and not so stupid as to try stealing from a shinobi."

His voice was cold when he answered: "Elaborate, genin."

"I entered a pub in the middle of the night and chatted with a fake drunk about bushings, he started the conversation. His pupils didn't react to the changes of light as slowly as they should have with the amount of sake in his breath." I quickly explained.

"And you didn't report this to your superior in command, namely Might Guy, why?" He asked.

"I already told you, I thought it was some kind of test, and since I never met the guy again, I had assumed I failed." I answered.

"And how did you manage to enter a pub?" He asked, still suspicious.

I grinned. _Time to sell my bullshit._

I brought my right hand forward and performed a half ram seal, I carefully molded my chakra into the necessary way to create a bunshin and stored it away in a tenketsu along my spine, before dedicating myself to the henge. When it was ready, I _folded_ it into a tenketsu in the lower half of my back. Finally, I shaped my chakra into a rough camouflage technique. When I was ready I wrapped myself in the third technique, and I unleashed the first technique merging it with the second.

Only I didn't want a bunshin, so I simply overlapped the new, henged bunshin to my body, carefully making sure that my expression would be matched by the face that stood twenty centimeters above me, and that I kept my actual arms folded so that my hands stood in the same position of the imaginary ones. And I snapped my fingers.

Kakashi's lone eye widened. Why?

Because a standard bunshin does cast a shadow, but its movements are limited to be the exact copy of the original one. (Which is why it's easy to distinguish one from the original. The eyes of the original are the only ones actually in line with the target.) And the bushin' steps do not make a sound when they hit the ground.

A henge on the other way overlaps a different image on your own body, and if the user was skillful enough, it could even be used to change his voice. However, the sound originated from the real body, the one hidden underneath the henge, so it was easy enough to spot a henge if one was observant enough. And shinobi, the ones that liked to stay alive, tended to be of the observant kind.

"I am a subterfuge specialist. Infiltration is a good skill to have." The words left my mouth, that moved in perfect synch with the henge, but from an external point of view, or hearing as it is the case, the point of origin of the sound should have been lower.

I walked a slow circle around Kakashi. The adult I was impersonating was the one who rented me my room the day before, so it was fresh in my memory. I let the older shinobi observe my work for a while longer, making sure that the light flapping of my actual clothes left my not-real ones from the opportune places, and careful in placing my feet down heel first, since their point was a tiny bit longer than my actual ones.

"And you have been able to do this since your first day as a genin?" The scarecrow ninja asked me. I could tell that he was suitably impressed.

"Oh, no, at the time I still needed hand seals." I cheekily answered.

"Do you have any other secrets?" He asked tilting his head.

I dispelled my technique "Loads." And before he could kill me, I hastily added: "But none that harms Konoha. I just prefer my skills to be shown on a need to know basis."

His presence then pressed on me, his posture hadn't changed, his eye was half-lidded, and there wasn't killing intent in the air, If not for my eyes seeing him, I would have thought to be alone, only underwater.

I stilled the flow of my chakra, before letting it explode out of my tenketsus in an attempt to destroy the genjutsu. I succeded.

The air turned back to normal, and Kakashi's eye smiled at me. _Uh, maybe I'll not be killed after all._

"I believe you." He told me. "When you say that you do not wish harm to Konoha."

_Shit._

"We only need to check with the Yamanaka for the rest of your story." He added.

"No." _I refuse. No. _"I won't allow anyone to make a mess in my head."

Kakashi blinked, visibly surprised by my strong reaction.

"I dislike killing. But I do it for the village. I dislike having to fight. But I do it for the village. I like being alive. But I put it at risk for the village. My life belongs to the Hokage, I accept it. I'll follow his orders, but my thoughts are _mine._" I hissed the last part. "I love Guy sensei and my teammates, I would never harm Konoha."

"You are a strange kid." He sighed. "It would only be to..."

"If I feel someone in my head I'll kill myself." I cut him. Cutting off an official your superior was stupid under every single aspect, but I needed to stress it. "I am my mind, if someone but me is in it I'd rather die. How would I know after that if my thoughts are still mine? If I am still me?" _And I am sincerely scared about it. I know it's possible since Shishui has the Kotoamat__s__ukami... I wonder if Danzō has one of his eyes or not..._

Kakashi looked at me strangely. Then shrugged, as to say that he heard worst fears, and dug out his trademark orange covered book.

_So all my very cool and reasonable lies were just... useless? How the fuck do shinobi lie to each other? My heartbeat was steady... my voice didn't falter..._

"So I am not going to be arrested? Just because you say that I am not a threat?" I asked after a while. I was expecting... more intimidation.

"There has never been a single account of you going against orders, or do anything to damage Konoha. Your sensei words hold weight. As he is an extraordinary judge of character." He answered without raising his gaze from his book.

Taking it as the suggestion it was, I promised myself that I would find my sensei to take him.

* * *

That evening, while the sun was setting, I spotted my sensei on the top of the Shodai's stone head. Since it was unusual for him, I already knew that he was waiting for me.

I landed near him. "Sensei," I spoke quietly.

"Daiki-kun." He quietly greeted me, and that, more than anything made clear that he was mad. _No youthfulness in the air tonight. _I bowed at the waist and said: "I'm sorry sensei." It was the truth. Team 10 was the only people I cared about in that world, even if I would always remember Chihiro's lessons and Itachi's stories with fondness. I hadn't thought about what to say to him, more busy trying to learn the Kage Bunshin under the teachings of Kakashi. Which had been: don't keep a clone for more than thirty minutes, or three clones for more than ten minutes. It turns out that the brain isn't equipped to deal with more information than the ones he naturally receives. So overdoing it would turn my brain into mush. Not that I was able to summon more than two clones at the same time, their chakra cost was prohibitive.

The good part was that once a clone dispelled, along with its memories came back all the chakra that it-he had still left, so I had been able to try the technique several times. The bad part was that the Copy ninja was a lousy teacher. His first demonstration of the jutsu had also been the last. No explanation whatsoever. _Son of a bitch._

After a couple of minutes of random thoughts on my part, that I spent bowed, Guy sighed.

"Clouds come from time to time,

and bring to men a chance to rest

from looking at the moon."

I kept bowing, and since my face was hidden, I didn't bother to hide my surprised expression. _That was some kind of haiku wasn't it. _After a couple of minutes, he uncharacteristically sighed another time.

"As shinobi, we often deal with secrets, Daiki-kun. Secrets we steal, ones we craft to trick the enemy, secrets we build to protect ourselves, others that we cling to. Like my love for poetry, for example."

I saw his feet turn in my direction. "Some secrets do not exist for the benefit of anyone but our sanity, and often have no logical reason to be secrets at all. When the risk to be exposed, it's not uncommon to react... stupidly."

I flinched. Not because I hated being called stupid, but because it was Guy sensei who was... scolding/berating me. I wasn't used to it.

"Stupidity however, is something only experience can help with." He went on. "Trying to manipulate your own Kage, for no other reason than feeling proud of your skill to do so is utter _foolishness_." His deep voice almost growled the last word.

"If you weren't my student, you would have made yourself a dangerous enemy where you could have found an ally. Only because you are proud of your secrets. Shinobis know the value of secrets. Sandaime-sama knows more about being a shinobi than anyone else alive and instead of asking for guidance, you try to lead him by the nose? How _dare _you."

He grabbed my shoulder and righted me. He looked me in the eyes for what I could tell was a long time. His hand wasn't exactly giving me an option either.

For the third time that evening, he sighed. "In many ways, you are a wonderful student. Do you remember what you told us when Shin joked about your feeling unwell after every encounter during which you have taken a life?"

I shook my head. Whatever I said to him after a situation during which I had killed was foggy at best.

"You told him that you preferred to feel sick every time you kill than forget what is exactly that you are taking away from the world."

He grabbed my other shoulder and shook me lightly, forcing me to look in his dark eyes. "That is a student that I am proud to call mine. Whoever was the one in the Hokage's office... I'd wish I had nothing to do with him. You have this ambivalence in you, that is, quite frankly, worrying."

He left my shoulders and turned back, looking over the village. "I warned you once to not lie to your teammates, do you remember? On your very first day. This is the second warning. There won't be a third."

Once he said that he jumped off the stone head and vanished from my senses.


	9. Chunin I

_27 April- year 8 AK_

"I still disagree." Hana was whining.

"We can't do anything about it." I tried to make her drop the topic.

"They can't just make me compete without my ninkens!" She hissed.

"They do have a point though," Shin added. "It wouldn't be exactly fair if we were a team of six members would it?"

"We could have split," I argued. "Two teams, Hana with Beta and Gamma, Shin, Alpha, and I. Or even three pairs. Each of us with one of the Haimaru brothers."

"See?!" Hana answered. "There was another solution, this exam it's rigged, I tell ya..." And Shin answered, defending the understandable position of Iwa.

I sighed, tuning them out and taking in the sights. Iwa was very different from Konoha, obviously, but it wasn't something I had thought I would ever get to see. Leaf and Rock nins had a... turbulent relationship. Meaning that if either hidden village could afford it, they would still be at war.

More than one reason explained this, but mainly, the Fourth Hokage made sure that whichever emotion any Iwa-nin could ever display toward a Leaf-nin would range only from disgust to deep-seeded hatred.

I had no doubt that Iwa threw a party that lasted at least a month after they heard of the Kyubi attack.

Even knowing all of that, there was no way I could deny Iwa had its kind of beauty. It was built on a mountain, and if not for the simple design and reddish stone (which explained the color of their uniforms), it could even remind me of Minas Tirith. There was no mistaking the Tsuchikage's Tower toppling it all. The real strange thing, however, was that the only mountains I spotted in their land were around Iwagakure no Sato itself. The rest of the land was mostly barren, with many canyons or plateaus breaking the otherwise boring flat surface of the horizon. That made me think that the mountains, which did not hide the Hidden Village, were either a red herring or a random line of defense. If I were the Tsuchikage I would have placed my village hidden deep underground, or at least in a disguised canyon. But the fact that the mountains weren't following a line, thus pointing out that they weren't originated from the collision of two tectonic plates, kept nagging at the back of my mind. Then I remembered that at least three mountains were volcanoes.

_Someone went all out with doton it seems. _To me, it looked like the founders of Iwa found a way to rise volcanoes in the middle of nowhere, and then used the lava to shape the rest of the mountains.

_Iwa is the bait in the center of a gigantic trap._ I blinked. Looking around with big eyes.

"Guys," I called. And when my teammates turned towards me I shared my findings, making them whistle. Kakashi, who was walking ahead of us turned his head and briefly, eye smiled at me, before returning to give to his smut the attention it deserved. The chunins escorting us through the maze that were the streets of the city glared at me. _Touchy touchy_.

Hana's right hand started darting through gestures almost faster than I could follow.

_~Why Konoha Not Trap~_ Shin took upon himself to answer, lowering the jug of sake from which he had been sipping, he gestured.

~_When built Hashirama and Madara.~ _he looked at our female teammate in a way that managed to convey how stupid it was to attack either of them so that Konohagakure no Sato didn't exactly need to stay hidden.

I butted in. ~_Trees hide armies and traps. Among trunks, beneath roots, above branches.~_ Hana nodded thoughtfully, satisfied by the answer. "So, are we not talking about why we are here without Guy-sensei?" she asked.

"Daiki messed up." Shin drawled.

"That's not true." I protested. "Well, I did, but we were going to go with Kakashi _before _I messed up." I then corrected my previous statement.

After a while Hana went back into the fray: "And why are you living in a tent in the Uchiha' District?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because of reasons." She pouted. "Until someone finds out and calls him on it its fine, Hana-chan." Shin graciously defended me.

"Sensei knows." I quipped in. And while Shin rolled his eyes, expressing perfectly the 'Duh' he wanted to say, Hana was surprised.

"And he didn't tell you to leave?" She asked, frowning heavily.

I got it living on a land nobody uses only because the ones who did die less than two months before was disrespectful towards the dead. But I was willing to bet that Sasuke's mother wouldn't have wanted her 8 years old son to live alone in what was a cemetery. And it was convenient being able to not pay rent. As a genin after all, I couldn't take up solo missions.

It's strange, the tongue lashing Guy sensei gave me made me think, a lot. I was not a child to be scolded, but after my first kills, sensei had been the one to put me back together. He had been the one who taught me. Sure, he did it because of orders and because he was part of the giant war machine that the Elemental Nations were. But it was also the only thing he had ever known. So with that prospect in mind, he went beyond his duty, to make sure I was sane, both in mind and body.

I was still unsure about _what_ exactly had hit me about his speech. _I got cocky, and tried to manipulate my Kage._ I recalled. It was likely one of the big no-no things of this world. _My Kage._ I scoffed at the words.

Since when I belonged to Konoha? My friendships tied me to Shin, Hana and Guy. I felt a tiny bit of pity for Sasuke, along with a narrow twinge of guilt. But that was it. It seemed foolish to pretend that I cared about the prestige of my home country.

Most of my last plea to Kakashi had been true, I killed, hurt and risked myself for the village. I knew that my life was in the hands of those able to issue orders to me. And while it was true that I choose it of my own free will, it didn't change that my reason was becoming strong enough to be able to protect myself.

The thought of trying to find a way to go back to my world of origin never occurred to me, I hadn't much to go back to.

A world with chakra in it was far more interesting, and I enjoyed mastering new skills or honing the ones I already had. And from the end of the manga, I knew there were ways to travel to different dimensions. Which in itself was mindblowing. Fuinjutsu was probably the only way through which I could accomplish it. However its inner workings were restricted to jonins. Sure, I could memorize a seal and replicate it, even the technique to burn a seal onto something wasn't hard to pick up. I had memorized storage and explosive seals. There weren't others I could access.

I did study the differences among the storage scrolls I managed to get my hands upon. There weren't many, and since seals were handwritten, I couldn't be sure the different squiggles weren't a quirk of the maker. Even if I did find a storage seal that worked for water. That meant that I walked around with a lake on my shoulders. Being able to extract water from the air was something I wouldn't do out of training or necessity.

I sighed. I didn't have a purpose, but becoming strong was something that could keep me busy. So I wasn't desperate for a soul-shattering, mind-blowing revelation that would give me a 'main quest'. Doing my own thing sounded pretty good. Even if I had to find a way to stop Obito from resurrecting Madara. That was a big bad threat looming at the horizon.

"Oi, oi." Hana snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Are you even there?"

I looked at her, honestly not knowing what she wanted. "What?"

"She asked you why sensei hadn't you leave the Uchiha compound." Shin came in my rescue.

"Oh." I forgot she was questioning me. "Because I explained my reasons."

"Which are..?" Hana asked.

"The ones I'm not telling you." I flippantly concluded. Worsening her pout. _She is so different from the other Inuzuka. _

"Maa maa, children, we're here." Kakashi stopped Hana from going on a rampage.

We entered in a great hall where _a lot_ of other genin teams were already waiting. I narrowed my eyes.

"Hatake-san, I swear that if we are late because..."

"And now that Konoha nins had deemed us worthy of their presence." A jonin in an Iwa uniform interrupted me, and I noticed that Kakashi had vanished from where he had been standing. _Son of a bitch_. I repeated in my head.

"We can begin." The Iwa jonin went ahead.

"The exam will be threefold. The first stage is about to begin. One member from every team will come here and pick a random number." He waited for a second. "Now."

I exchanged a look with my teammates, and seeing that they were acting shy all of a sudden, I rolled my eyes and went ahead.

_There are a lot of teams._ I noticed again. I didn't exactly remember how many people attended, _O__r will attend__. _I corrected myself in the safety of my mind, the chunin exams in Konoha, but I knew that everyone could be squeezed into a classroom, even if a big one. That was not the case.

I placed my hand into an urn and extracted a white rubber ball. The number seven gleaming in black over it. _Wasn't it a lucky number? _

When every team had a number, the proctor went ahead.

"There were two balls for each number. The one who picked up the number will be given a secret and become a prisoner. The other two members of his team will have to obtain said secret from the other genin who picked the same number. The secret is necessary to rescue your companion. While the one... questioned, will have to keep it secret. To pass the first stage a team must not only not divulge the secret, but also obtain it. Questions?"

A kunoichi from Suna raised her hand, she, like me, belonged to the group that extracted the numbers. "What are the two doing the questioning allowed to do?"

The proctor didn't miss a beat: "What are you willing to do for your village?"

Many of us gulped, and for a second, I was worried.

Then I thought about what I knew about the first stage of the exam. In the manga, it had been a giant trick. _So I just have to free myself? _I started to plan.

"So we are allowed to kill the prisoner?" An Iwa shinobi from the bigger group asked, looking at me with a... hungry gleam in his eyes. _Fucking Iwa_.

Then I exchanged a look with Hana and Shin. _What would I be willing to do for my village?_

I was relieved to be the one questioned. I sure as hell wasn't going to torture any of the hopeful chunins around me.

I looked around, taking in the general age of the genins. There were some younger and some older than me, on the older side there was a kunoichi from Kumo with sharp features that reminded me of someone... _probably a filler character._

_So how do I free myself? _I started plotting possible solutions.

They separated us and an Iwa chunin led me to my 'prison cell'. It was a square cube carved out from the rock. It was lit by a torch behind the single wooden chair. "Sit." He ordered me. Then he tied me, without being too rough, to the chair.

Hands far from each other behind the backrest, my hips, and legs tightly immobilized too. "The other two will come in a minute after I leave the room. Your secret is 'Dawn'." He tonelessly said. _Uh, I guess the Tsuchikage picked the more level headed to deal with Konoha. It's... almost kind of him._

Then my eyes narrowed. _He didn't say in a minute, he said a minute after I've left. Exactly one minute. Why not 'will be here shortly'? _

I nodded thankfully to the Iwa chunin, who had seen fit gagging me too. _It's not like I can bite through the ninja wire._

I blinked. _Well Hana could._ Sensible precaution. I had a minute to organize the counter trap. Firstly I examinated my gag.

_Well shit._ It wasn't a gag, it was a slip of paper, and since I couldn't feel my chakra I deduced that not only it kept my mouth shut, but was also a chakra inhibitor. It wasn't that it stopped the flow of chakra, it simply made me unaware of it, and thusly unable to manipulate it.

Jutsus had two components, the chakra, the control, which was a mesh between your understanding of what you were trying to accomplish and how finely you could 'tune' the movement of your chakra. Hand seals worked a bit in the middle of the two. The more you had of one, the less you needed the other, but hand seals stabilized greatly the more lengthy processes that manipulated chakra. My chakra control was sublime, if not on par with Tsunade perfect one. I had enough chakra to perform the Kage Bunshin, and I trained extensively with it. Only, I had never done it without handseals before, and based on my experience, I would need several weeks of work to learn how to do it. I had an easier time with suiton, but there were no tricks with kinjutsu.

So, preparing myself to take a beating passively? Or whichever torture kids were capable of. Then I thought about Itachi. _Better not play it with 'I can endure it.'_

I forced myself to realize that kids in this world were closer to mindless soldiers than anything else. At least some veterans had seen enough shit to start questioning themselves.

I had roughly another thirty seconds to come up with something. And not being able to access my chakra was quickly sending me towards mindless fear. In all the shit I've been put through, I always had with me the comforting presence of my chakra. It came with the knowledge that, if needed, I _co__uld try something._ I bit my tongue in frustration, feeling the spike of pain and the metallic taste of blood.

In my haste, I bit too deep and now there was _a lot_ of blood in my mouth. _Disgusting_.

But it managed to calm me down. Somewhat. I slowed down my breathing, hoping that I would be able to spit out the blood soon. I didn't want to swallow it, it would make me puke. And with the seal on my mouth I would have to swallow it...

_STOP THINKING ABOUT IT! _I mentally screamed at myself. I forcibly changed the direction of my thoughts.

_They can't kill me if they want to pass. But they could cripple me. Bloody fucking hell I would cripple an enemy. _

Then I paused, running through the stuff I was able to do. _Well there are always the gates. Thay simply change the amount of chakra that can flow through my body, the third is probably enough to shred the seal._

With that backup plan, I finally managed to relax. I had a way out.

_Mind games first, then._ I decided when a kunoichi and a shinobi entered the room.

_Kiri kunoichi. 13. 160 cm. 48kg. No distinctive signs. Pale blond, dark brown eyes. Likely support role._

_Kiri shinobi. 15. 175cm. 70kg. A scar across the nose. Slight discoloration of the left iris, possible trauma. Brown hair, brown eyes. No taijutsu or kenjutsu user. Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. _

They slammed the door behind themselves. _Seriously? This should be intimidating__?_

Then I remembered that to become genin in Kiri they had to kill a classmate and my hopes to bullshit my way through the situation I was in dimmed.

Then he punched me on the cheek. My head slammed on the side, and my vision went out of focus. "When they explained the task I couldn't believe our luck."

He started conversationally the girl, who with an uncaring twitch of the wrist unleashed a kunai that slashed open my other cheek.

"You see, my father is in the Torture and Interrogation department." She went on.

"So I shared what I knew, but Hano, here, is a natural. And while we both enjoy this kind of game, we really need to be quick. So, we are going to ask only once, and you are going to tell us."

'The or else torture will start for real' went unsaid.

The shinobi, _Hano_, my mind provided, grabbed the edge of the seal and ripped it off.

Immediately, I felt again my chakra running through my coils and started molding it in my mouth. I looked at them, managing to plaster a bored expression on my face.

_The talking won't work. _I decided.

"So." The girl asked. "What's the secret?"

The shinobi walked forward cracking his knuckles, with a creepy grin on his face. He really would have preferred if I refused to tell them. At least for a while, I could tell from the way his pupils were widening at the prospect of beating down a tied up prisoner.

I raised an eyebrow and kept discretely molding my chakra. It was something done with so little waste that even a sensor would have needed to check twice to be sure I was doing something.

I tensed my muscles, but even then the punch that landed on my stomach made me wheeze through my nose. I couldn't open my mouth until I was ready.

Two minutes had passed, I wanted to keep the Gates a secret, but I was going to reach the end of my rope pretty soon.

Hano hit me again, and four minutes after they had entered I still had to open my mouth once.

Only, they thought it was because I choose the 'indestructible' approach. I was ready.

I slowly nodded and grumbled something in my throat.

"Did you broke his jaw?" the girl asked her companion, who shrugged unapologetically. I distractedly wondered if he was some kind of idiot with a sadist streak a mile wide. And there was no way around it, _I __wanted him dead._ I inhaled deeply through the nose and acted. _I'll feel sad later._

The Suiton: Teppodama at its simplest, allows the user to spit a ball of water of different dimensions, based on the quantity of chakra you poured in it, at high speed. The whole point of it was that said ball of water hit like a ton of bricks. That was not what I did. When I saw an opening I spat a thin, high-pressure jet of... bloodied water since I was manipulating the water in my blood.

The thin, reddish line sawed through Hano, following the direction in which I was moving my head. The kunoichi reacted fast enough to be merely clipped by it, but she did something with her chakra that turned the cutting edge of my attack into a blunt force. She was thrown against the wall, hit her head, and slumped forward, unconscious.

In the same way, I could feel the drops of water I had laced with my chakra a month before, I felt my jet of bloodied water shredding through cloth, chainmail, skin, muscle and bone, digging into the rock of the room, before slamming against the kunoichi.

I blinked. "Well that was... kind of underwhelming." I murmured, before directing medical chakra through the tenketsu on my palate, carefully healing my tongue.

I let my mind take a step back from the gore in front of me and closed my eyes, choosing to focus on something else.

I had tried to separate the water from the rest of the blood. But controlling such manipulation with the limited number of tenketsus in my mouth was another kettle of fish. The real question was why the blood in my mouth didn't start clotting when I fed it chakra. The only different thing was from my other experiments with blood had been performing them in my hands. So maybe the presence of air induced in the blood a different way to react when fed chakra. _I am an idiot._ I didn't need to separate the water from the blood.

I couldn't infuse chakra into my blood before turning it into water natured one since the blood would immediately try to clot (since it was outside of my veins). That was how I manipulated water without hand seals. But blood already was laced with my chakra, I simply needed to change it into water natured one. And that had been what I did in my haste.

_I should thank Hano in the next life. _I grimaced. He was a sadistic bastard, but it was around my age, and was truly his fault?

_Can I fault him for adapting to the only kind of life this world teaches?_ I asked myself.

The answer was no. And even if I could argue that removing sadists in the position of letting loose with their instinct was more or less like removing cancer, it didn't change the fact that I killed another kid.

I gathered my chakra _very _carefully at the tips of my right hand, calling forth a chakra scalpel. As slowly as I could, I closed my hand, bringing the scalpel over the ninja wire.

It was something that I had chosen not to do before because cutting too deep could have meant wounding my self. More specifically cutting my veins and tendons. Which was something that required hours to heal. _And hurts like a bitch, thank you very much._

After having freed my right hand, the rest was easy.

I rose from my seat rolling my shoulders and doing my best to ignore both the view (I could see his spine) and the smell of the shinobi that I had butchered (blood and shit, death smells like blood and shit).

I left the room not caring a bit about the strange looks I got from the chunin who was patrolling that section of the corridor.

In front of my door there was another, still with the number seven on it. I walked forward and was about to knock when it opened, Shin walking out with a furrowed brow, Hana biting her lower lip nervously.

Both their expression turned into one of surprise, before flicking in the most coordinated manner I'd ever witnessed through worry (probably for me), shame (for having taken so much time that I had to free myself?), and relief.

I was willing to bet that while Hana felt honestly relieved after seeing me safe and sound, Shin was only happy that he had less work to do.

I couldn't resist. I looked at them and in the most patronizing tone I was capable of I asked: "What took you so long?"


	10. Chunin II

_27 April- year 8 AK_

We had to stay still for a whole hour in a waiting room, all the other teams slowly trickling in.

"How many?" Hana asked.

"Twenty-five teams." Shin drawled, I could smell the sake in his breath from where I stood. _And that reminds me._

"I still can't believe your solution had been getting your prisoner drunk," I said.

They had the decency to at least look sheepish, even if it was Hana who, almost uncharacteristically, rolled her eyes and dismissed my whining.

"We only took ten minutes, you're a tough guy, we knew you could handle it." She said.

_Still sore because I haven't told her why I set up a tent in the Uchiha District? _I wondered.

"Genins." The proctor called our attention, and the somewhat relaxed environment turned into a more tense one. All of us were staring at him waiting for instructions.

"One genin from each team will come to this stand and be given a wooden chip." He rose one in the air so that everyone could see it.

"On it, there is etched either the Saru, Tatsu, or Tora handsign. To pass the second stage your whole team needs to reach the end of the training ground behind the stall in five days, with at least one of every kind of chip."

And before anyone managed to raise their hands to ask a question, the proctor added: "You will be monitored during the test. You all signed up for this, so everything is allowed to complete your mission, if you want to back out, now it's the time."

I swear I heard someone say 'cool'. _What's wrong with these people._

Hana started walking towards the stall when I stopped her. Trying to out-think the second stage. In my head, I ran over the instructions that we had just been given, making a comparison with what was implied.

_Take the chips in the training ground and reach the end of it. _I summed up. Only, the proctor didn't say _when_ we could start gathering the chips. I looked at the stall, there was a jonin giving them away, so I didn't wish to test my plan against him.

I started gesturing. _~Shin take it. Hana memory smells.~_

And before they could question my orders I clapped my hands, plastering a goofy smile on my face. And channeling my own inner Naruto I pointed at Shin.

"You on queue duty, since you are boring," I said at a normal volume, which meant everyone was listening, hoping to get information on the competition.

I turned towards Hana: "You on 'not killing anyone duty!' "

She frowned, she had no idea what I was doing, but she trusted me to have a plan. She whined, and grumbled something under her voice, she even growled a bit, before crossing her arms and pointedly looking away from me.

"And you?" Shin drawled, already walking towards the forming line.

"I'll make us friends!" I exclaimed raising my hands in the air.

For the following half an hour, I mingled, annoying the shit out of everyone, but when I started telling raunchy jokes, on one side I disgusted someone, on the other people, were cracking up. And for shinobi trained to not show emotions, it was kind of a big deal.

Shin went back to Hana, occasionally rocking in the balls on his feet, and making a show of giving the chip to our favorite kunoichi.

Whit a skip in my step, I joined them while the proctor divided us into smaller groups, who would enter the training ground through different gates.

We got lined up with one of the youngest groups, they were from Iwa. When I got a close look at their kunoichi, who was in line for the chip while I was mingling, I froze.

She had pink eyes, no pupil, only two or three years older than Sasuke. _Kurotsuchi. _

I sighed. _Bloody hell what's up with people so eager to climb the ladder?_

We were led to a stone gate already opened for us, let inside with a "The end of the training ground that you must reach from here it's somewhere north."

_Very specific._ I rolled my eyes.

As soon as the gate close behind us, the Iwa genins pounced on us, and before my teammates could butcher the fools, I _moved_.

To the genin eyes, I simply disappeared, no blur, no telling twitch of my muscles, simply, I was no longer there.

I was behind them and kicked their legs out from beneath them, making them fall to the ground. They were good enough to slam their arms down and turn an embarrassing fall into sloppy handstands.

"Attacking someone you know nothing about is the pinnacle of stupidity." I lectured them with a bored tone, "What would your families say?"

The Iwa team scrambled to get on guard, each of the kids assuming what I supposed was their standard taijutsu stance.

"Relax," I said, raising my hands in a soothing gesture. "Shin, Hana, north, full tilt," I said out loud, while my hand quickly gestured.

_~Targets stolen before~ _And once again I lamented the existence of a less than satisfactory vocabulary in the combat sign language Hana had created years before. It was a Team 10 thing on which I had insisted a lot. _Still, it could be better_.

"Aaaw, but they want a fight!" Hana cooed at the younger genins.

"And there was this thing I wanted to test on a human target..." Shin argued.

"You are not deep frying the Tsuchikage's grandaughter while we are in Iwa, Shin." I reprimanded him.

"Besides, Kuro-chan looks kind of cute, with her pigtails and whatnot." I kept going when literally everyone's jaws fell on the ground.

"Why...?" stammered the boy on Kurotsuchi's side. While nobody from team ten had exuded killing intent, it was pretty clear that we could have butchered them without breaking a sweat.

_And they probably grew up with horror stories in which the Yellow Flash was the monster._

"I didn't come to Iwa to kill children." I gruffed as an answer.

I grabbed my teammates by the shoulders and yanked them towards the north. Then I spoke to the Iwa genin, who were sweating under the implication of my absolute dismissal of their abilities.

"If you make it quick to the objective, you're in for a gift."

And I started running, followed by my teammates, at a speed that no genin could hope to match unless he too trained extensively under Might Guy for the better part of four years.

The terrain was rock. Period. I distantly heard the trickle of a little course of water, but otherwise the training ground we were crossing was simply a plain crisscrossed by trenches, burrows, and likely tunnels. Probably filled to the brim with the strange kind of dangerous animals that enjoyed to populate training grounds. Very much like the Forest of Death, or training ground 44, in Konoha.

After a while, I could feel their eyes boring into my back. I sighed. "Okay, questions?".

"Why are we heading to the endpoint already?" Hana asked.

"I presume it has something to do with your 'making friends' while I was in line." Shino commented.

I smiled smugly. "You guys remember that I'm good at stealing, right?"

They stood silent for a second, letting my answer sinking in, before snickering.

"You pickpocketed them!" Hana laughed.

"And you started to mingle before everyone had returned from the line so you wouldn't have raised suspicion," Shin commented. I could tell that he was actually impressed.

"And that thing with the Iwa team?" he then asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "I don't want Onoki to fall on our backs like a ton of bricks." I explained in a tone that conveyed how stupid the question was.

"I meant how did you know her name, and that she is the Tsuchikage's grandaughter." he clarified with an annoyed tone. _Ha! I'll rile you up even if you're drunk._

"I listen when I walk." I smoothly lied. "The granddaughter of Onoki taking the exam was being whispered at every corner since we arrived, and I put it together with the way the other Iwa genins looked at her." I lied smoothly.

"And about the chan part?" Hana asked with an unreadable expression on her face.

"To freak them out. Everyone is big on honorifics, so many and so complex that makes only easier to offend someone." I shrugged.

"You're strange Daiki." Shin accused me.

It wasn't the worst thing I've ever been told, and not far from the truth either.

We crossed another team along the way, they were setting an ambush of some kind, we didn't bother engaging them.

Nine hours later we reached our objective, Hana unnaturally developed sense of direction was more than enough to guide us the right way.

We stopped before a tall stone gate, Immediately noticing the three podiums where we were to place our honestly earned wooden chips.

"Hey before going on, can we play a prank on the competition?" I offered, grinning madly.

Hana, sweet Hana, smiled mischievously in my direction.

"Am I the only one who thinks we are vastly overpowered to attend the exams?" Shin asked rhetorically out of the blue, but he was already taking out a scroll from his pouch.

"So, I can set 15 lethal traps, 12 non-lethal ones, or I can rearrange what I have to make up eight very embarrassing ones."

Obviously, we all agreed on the last option.

"Wait! Let's make one where they have to get drunk to obtain a chip!" Hana suggested.

"Shouldn't we thin the competition?" Shin objected.

I shrugged. "Eh, the more the merrier, besides, if the first stage was about gathering information, the second about... survival, I think? The third will likely be a tournament. The more the opponents the more chances Konoha has to show off."

And so, we spent another three hours making humiliating traps that held a wooden chip as a prize, Shin started snickering halfway through and we had to stop to regain our composure.

During our work, Hana and I followed Shin's instructions to the letter. It wasn't like we weren't able to make a trap of some kind, but ours were mostly obvious and brutal, while Shin guided us to create insidious and invisible ones.

At the end of our work I placed the three wooden chips on their respective podiums and the stone gate opened for us.

The proctor greeted us with a cold tone that did nothing to hide his annoyance at us. _Hey, we were being fast tracked to Tokubetsu Jonin, it's not anyone's fault. _I sarcastically commented in my head.

"In the next hall there is food, there is a staircase that will lead you to the lower floors, where there are free rooms if you need to rest. You cannot leave this building for the next five days."

We all nodded, the orders were quite simple. "Can we go on the roof? You know, fresh air..." I couldn't contain myself.

The proctor turned on himself and walked away without another word.

* * *

_Five days later_

We spent the days in a comfortable routine. Once chosen the biggest room available, we left it together only for eating. One of us would keep guard on the door, one rested, and one performed light exercises or meditation.

It was difficult for me to train my fire or wind natured change without a leaf to check on my results, but I made do with scraps taken from scrolls.

Why natured chakra was important? After all both Itachi and Sasuke were able to spit fireballs without going through the change of their chakra into a fire natured one.

The ability to change your chakra into an elemental natured one came with three important perks. First, you could go and try to craft your jutsus, or simply use fire natured to lit a candle, just bringing it to the tenketsus on your fingertips and brushing the wick.

Second, it was way cheaper performing elemental jutsus in terms of chakra spent.

Third, it opened the road to ninshuu, which was some hazy strange shit that I didn't understand.

Since the third day, genins started trickling in, most of them were a bit skittish, and the way they reacted to the sound of a wire snapping was hilarious. It confirmed that Shin's traps had hit true.

They herded the teams that managed to pass the stage into a great hall, where the proctor explained the third stage.

_A tournament after a month of vacation. Duh._

"But first there will be preliminary matches. You win, you get to the tournament. Lethal force is allowed, however, you'll stop at the moment the referee says so, or you _will_ _be _stopped." The proctor dropped the 'not-news' on me with a bored tone.

We proceeded to the extraction, and one again, I picked the number seven.

_Now, this makes me think it's rigged._ I realized.

My suspicion was strangely confirmed by the fact that Kurotsuchi, of all people, was to be my opponent. _Either because the Sandaime told Onoki about my reticence about killing, or they watched when I said I didn't want to kill children. Anyway, she and her team were not ready to be chunin, at least skill-wise. _

When I let my eyes run over the posted names, I froze. _Yugito Nii_.

_Bloody fucking hell, that's why she looked familiar. __Only in the anime, she appears... eight years from now? Something like that. _

I gulped. What was terrifying was that I knew what kind of bat-shit crazy stuff a jinchuriki could throw around, and from her I could feel nothing. I didn't dare press my chakra around her to get a _feel_ of how her chakra worked. I had learned that while it was something everyone with sufficient awareness of their chakra could do, it was also very easy to spot for those experienced enough. And the equivalent of 'copping a feel'.

Kakashi had been the one to explain it, giggling madly. I suspect that the total absence of any kind of shame annoyed him.

I got that it was rude, and since then I used it only sparingly, but as long as it gave me an idea of what the person was like, I wouldn't ignore it.

Hana picked Shin. And that confirmed once for all the whole 'rigged' business. It wouldn't do having a single team from Konoha reaching the finals and monopolizing the show. So they played to reduce the risk.

When we regrouped, Hana was looking a bit... defeated?

_Ah, she probably wanted some time to shine. She is fast, and definitely no pushover, but one hit kills are hardly a way she can truly see how far she can go._

"We all know that Shin is stronger." She pouted.

"More like 'better suited for open combat', I think." I gently corrected.

She huffed. "Ooh, fuck off, I don't need pity." But her hand gestured ~_Kind_~

In that contest, it was a 'thank you'. We used that to indicate when we took a non-lethal approach to an ambush, so I'd take that as a victory.

Shin had a bored expression on his face. He didn't care one way or another. His preferences were traps, money, and more recently sake. The thought of surrendering to Hana didn't even cross his mind. Nor hers, for what mattered.

We had to win the whole thing, Hokage's orders. _He will have a stroke when he finds out about the jinchuriki. Ha!_

An idea wormed its way through my brain before I could stop it. _We know that I'm the most well rounded of the group, and frankly, the one who has pushed himself further. So the lion's share of the job was mine already..._

"I'll win it." I sighed.

And my teammates turned towards me.

"I'll win it," I repeated. "So Shin can be lazy and sit this one out, while Hana can be her usual competitive self and play with the other genins."

Shin's eyebrows rose into his forehead, while Hana's moth formed a cute 'o' .

I could relate with their surprise, I honestly could. It wasn't like me _at all_ to promise to do something not necessary. Even less so that one teammate could 'play'.

"But you'll owe me. Both of you." I added. I could as well try to win something out of this. "And Hana, you're the one who'll explain to sensei, I don't want Shin to be hanged on a golden rope made of youthful exuberance because he chooses to not participate."

Their expressions relaxed when I added my conditions, I made deals, not favors, they were more used to it. Then we shared a good laugh on the youthful image I had suggested.

"Besides, there aren't many genins strong enough to give us a run for our money." I reasoned. We didn't _know_ that, obviously, but we and the jinchuriki were the actual monsters here, which were the possibilities of a giant unseen threat? Some genin would undoubtedly be good, but without kidding anyone or inflating my ego, my lovely team 10 was downright scary.

7 teams passed the second stage. And while nobody pulled a Kabuto, 5 people were not in a condition to continue. _By the way, where the fuck is he? But again, the chunin exams are held twice each year, so maybe he'll start from the next one. Or the butterfly effect is already at play here._

We were 16 ready to go ahead, which meant that the tournament would be composed by 8 contestants. And if I remembered correctly, in the manga the last stage had seen one from Oto, the three from Suna, and seven from Konoha.

Now, three teams from Iwa had made it, Yugito's team had made it whole, another from Kiri, one from Suna, and finally my team. That was before the five wounded or exhausted ones went to the infirmary.

The matches started, and I carefully observed the competition. Most of the genins had only one trick up their sleeve that allowed them to sneak their way forward. Commendable, really, versatility was one of the most useful traits to have.

I dedicated a particular kind of attention to those that picked my eyes as 'potentially dangerous'. Yugito was on top of that list.

She had long, straight, blonde, hair bound with taut bandages, dark eyes and she had yet to start wearing lipstick. She wore a long-sleeved black blouse and purple pants, both of which had a design similar to clouds on them, purple fingerless gloves and a chain of blue beads wound tightly around her right wrist. She also wore the standard Kumogakure forehead protector, sandals and a kunai holster, which was strapped to her right thigh. Her forearms were left bare, while there were bandages that kept the end of her trousers from flapping and revealing her position. A dirty white belt around her waist broke the dark colors of her figure. All in all, similar to she would one day appear but with more care to camouflage.

The way she walked however, was far more revealing. Silently, like most, if shinobi and kunoichi did subconsciously, but she lacked that... 'I don't fucking care about the world' vibe that fully trained jinchuriki had. From what I knew, she had a decisive personality, but her eyes darted around a bit too much for her to be sure of herself. It stood to reason that she wasn't as powerful as she was in the manga. In it, she couldn't transform into the Nibi, so maybe she didn't even have the version 2 of the chakra cloak yet. I certainly hoped so.

It was Shin and Hana's turn. The referee gave the signal to begin, and Shin immediately surrendered.

Hana _squealed_. She hugged him tightly while the bewildered referee decreed her as the victor. And I gleefully noticed Shin blushing. _Ha! And I bet that's not the sake's fault!_

I could tease them so much.

Soon, it was my turn. I schooled my expression and walked down into the small arena. Kurotsuchi had jumped down from the balcony in a youthful example of enthusiasm.

I stared at the girl, my eyes scanning her. _Iwa kunoichi, 135cm 31kg_. _Too young to have a niche, chakra coils not developed enough for intensive jutsus. Likely reliant on taijutsu, shuriken and kunais to compensate. Dangerous kekkei genkai and a suiton user. _

I looked again on the balcony, searching for her jonin. Kakashi hadn't bothered showing up, but the other' teams senseis were... ninja-ing their way around each other. Likely searching for information while letting slip half-truths and bullshits in equal measure about their home country, maybe bragging about their genins. The referee shouted: "Start!" and the game was on.

Because for me it was a game.

I opened with a mocking smile that angered the girl. _Well, there's no reason to not make friends with the next Tsuchikage, is there?_

She threw a smoke pellet on the ground and used the following cover to... do something. I couldn't see her after all.

The telltale whistling of shuriken warned me with time to spare and I simply hopped to the side, leaving the smoke cloud in the center of the arena.

She tried to close the distance to... _engage_ _in close combat? Is she suicidal?_ Then I smiled.

The girl had been trained well, her solid bushin was done fast and quietly, and she didn't shout her technique out loud, instead likely whispering it under the sound of the smoke sizzling. However I had to be stupid to not notice the fizzling of the paper bomb on the back of the clone.

Instead of dodging or trying to put some distance between us, I kicked her bombed tsuchi-bushin.

The construct was hurled through the smoke, from were jumped out a startled kunoichi a second before it exploded.

"A naïve plan, bet well executed," I commented with an encouraging smile. "And a tsuchi bunshin at your age, impressive."

She raised her guard and glared at me, a light sheen of sweat on her forehead and her breath heavy. _Probably trained to keep quiet in a fight. _

"But it took a lot out if you, didn't it?" I asked tilting my head. I took a step forward and engaged her. Still silent.

"Let's see your taijutsu before wrapping this up uh?" I offered. She kept quiet. It could have been unnerving if it didn't come from ten years old with pigtails.

I wasn't behaving like a patronizing bastard humiliating her or anything like that, I simply wanted to know what Iwa nin were taught. It was too soon for her to have learned a style beyond the basic one they taught at the academy. So I was going learn their basic through our little match, if there was one thing team 10 was scary at, it was taijutsu, so we could decode a lot from the way she balanced her weight.

Soon, she stopped keeping quiet because of a strategic choice and started doing it because she was out of breath.

I went forward with a wide punch that she countered with a perfectly executed textbook block: her right forearm protecting her head, which had been my target, and her left arm shot forward, her punch aiming to my crotch.

I raised my left knee, stopping her in her tracks, before kicking her in the gut.

I was matching her speed and carefully controlling my strength, but my hit still threw her back a few steps.

"Your taijutsu is subpar," I noted. She had all the time to kick my leg sideways, or just sidestep.

She was pressing a hand on her stomach while shaking a bit her right arm, trying to loosen up her wrist.

"Don't block head-on when your enemy is physically stronger than you." I lectured.

And for the next ten minutes, we fought hand to hand, and I forced her to bend, sidestep, evade, looking with meticulous attention at how she moved. I offered her openings to see how she would try to hit, I offered her more than one at the same time to see what she had been taught to prioritize. Sometimes I left obvious openings that screamed 'trap', she started refusing to take them after I almost broke her arm when she had overextended herself.

I brought up very gradually the speed, every couple of minutes raising it a bit. She managed to keep up nicely, her sensei did a lot to raise her stamina. But after a while, I felt that I learned everything that I could, and she would have been dead on her feet, if not for the heavy breathing and the occasional cursing.

"You're good for your age." I started. "You adapt well, and even if your taijutsu is... crap, you adapt quickly. Your aim is mostly spot-on and you recognized some of the most obvious traps."

I slapped away her weak kick and swiped away the leg she was standing on.

"You're not good enough, but you'll get there." I smiled at her panting form. She could barely twitch her fingers, rising from the floor was beyond her. Then I saw her breath deepening and her eyes closing. _Uh, she passed out._

The referee came over. "The winner is Daiki from Konohagakure." I blinked, taking in the news.

_That old bastard__!_

The Hokage had removed 'eatslug' from my papers!


	11. Chunin III

_03 may- year 8 AK_

"So we won't be going back home before the tournament?" Hana asked, with a great deal of annoyance in her voice.

I could relate, since all the freak was doing was eye-smiling.

Shin unhelpfully snorted. "Imagine that the Kages don't want ninja running back an forth between their domains."

_Oh, I didn't think of that. How insightful of you, Shin._ "Maa, maa, your families and some friend will likely join Hokage-sama and his entourage when they come here for the tournament," Kakashi said.

"Wait, is it how it usually goes? Kages jumping in other hidden villages oy to see the last stage of the exams?" I was confused. The Kage of a village was the equivalent of the nuclear deterrent, showing him (or her, as soon as a woman got the hat) your home looked like a security issue as big as Guy's youthful enthusiasm.

"The Kages of the Great Five rarely do so, it's mostly seen as courtesy among allies. After all, many want to _see_ the kage of another village." The scarecrow replied.

"So the Kages do their advertisement too?" I almost snorted.

"And maybe they gloat over their genin if they put up a good enough show," Kakashi added, winking. How I could tell it was a wink instead of a blink, since his headband covered his Sharingan, I had no idea of.

"At least they let us play in some of their training grounds." Shin amended, trying to calm down Hana. We all missed the Haimaru brothers, hell I missed even Guy over the silver-haired freak, but the Inuzuka had a strong bond with their ninkens, it was almost symbiotic.

"And they probably have some surveillance on them, so that they can let know to the Iwa contestants, who will come up with something perfectly tailored for each of us." I shot him down.

Shin smiled smugly at me. "They can't, it's written in the Chunin Accords. 'The ninja from other villages will not spy while in the village hosting the exam, they will not be spied upon either.' " he quoted verbatim.

_I really should have read the exams' charter before coming here._

"Still, it must be a security nightmare." I pointed out, looking questioningly at Kakashi who had his nose buried deep into his smut. He didn't bother to recognize my existence.

"Well, Shin can help Hana train, I have my own thing to do and don't need people around." I offered, leaving those two some alone time was a sound idea, and from the slight twitch of Kakashi's shoulder, he had caught up on my matchmaker plans. Or he had just found a raunchy joke among the steaming hot sex scenes.

Before they could object, I flickered over to the next group of rocks. _Seriously, they need someone to add a tiny bit of variety to their training grounds. Plateaus and rocks. Stones, even pebbles. Everything is organized in the relation of the position of particularly striking pieces of dirt. Hell, in Konoha everyone loves trees, but we do appreciate a tiny bit of variety. Here everything is dug out from the rock. Houses and market stalls, training grounds and Tsuchikage's Tower, which is the tip of the mountain a bit_.

I sat down cross-legged on the comfiest looking piece of dirt I could find (it wasn't comfy at all !).

"Well, time to actually come up with some training for the next month." I muttered to myself.

What could I do in a month to gain a somewhat significative power up over my current self?

Beyond keeping polishing my suiton

In a single month, I couldn't really come up with a completely new skill.

_So spitting clouds of poison is out, as well as learning how to mess with the enemy nervous system through medical chakra._

"I could try summoning..." But there were three problems: one, I didn't know if I had enough chakra for it, two, I wasn't sure of the hand signs, three, I wasn't Naruto, who could just pump so much chakra in everything to make it work.

_I will keep up with chakra control exercises, there is never enough chakra control after all._

It was boring, but something one had to build with years of diligent practice. Or being born with it, cheaters ( fuck you sakura!). The same could be said for taijutsu, arguably my strongest skill, but the gates were some bullshit power-up, basically Kishimoto version of a Super Saiyan.

_Wait..._

It wasn't like the ability to unlock the Gates automatically gave you the upper hand against anyone who couldn't. I could open the first three gates but Guy sensei could still go toe to toe with me without even touching his Gate of Opening.

They were restrictions placed on the chakra system that contained the kind of strength the body could wield. I wouldn't end up in a hospital only because I had opened the first four gates. If I opened five, I would probably tear some of my muscles, but that was it. If the body was trained enough, it could withstand the aftereffects of opening the Gates without breaking apart.

Lee had learned to open five with a year under Guy sensei's tutelage, I took four, but I knew my limits, and wouldn't land myself into the hospital because I couldn't pace myself once I opened the gates.

Each gate was more like a dam than anything else, opening one made more chakra flow through your coils, stressing them. It enhanced your body beyond what it naturally could handle, and that was why without extremely deep conditioning, it was impossible to do. Somehow, the effects were cumulative, exactly like the Super Saiyan I, Super Saiyan II, Super Saiyan III. With every gate, one's body became more and more enhanced, with chakra turbulently cursing through the coils. It felt like being a glass bottle containing a stormy sea. I went over what I knew about the gates.

The Gate of Opening (開門, Kaimon), located in the brain. This gate removed the restraints of the brain on the muscles so 100% of their strength can be used whereas normally, a person could only use 20% of their muscles' strength to keep them from disintegrating.

The Gate of Healing (休門, Kyūmon), too was located in the brain. Forcibly increased one's physical strength and temporarily re-energized the body, .

The Gate of Life(生門, Seimon), located on the spinal cord. The increased blood flow turned the skin red but also granted more oxygen coursing through the body.

The Gate of Pain(傷門, Shōmon), located on the spinal cord, affected the nervous system, hence its name. The orders the brain issued to the muscles traveled much faster, but also the feedback from your senses. So, pains barely felt before opening it became the equivalent of sharp instantaneous needles. And it was, if not soul-shattering painful, very uncomfortable. The sensory feedback was like touching stuff with a hand that had been kept covered in bandages for months, only _much_ more intense.

The Gate of Limit(杜門, Tomon), located in the abdomen, from what I felt using it, strengthened your core muscles, making them somewhat denser.

The Gate of View(景門, Keimon) located in the stomach, was the following step up, with it, Guy sensei performed the Morning Peacock. Opening of this gate released such enormous amounts of chakra that it could cause nearby water bodies to form a vortex around the user, but that was only stuff I knew from the manga. I suspected the chakra would flow so turbulently through the coils of the user that it made genjutsu ineffective.

The Gate of Wonder(驚門,Kyōmon), located below the stomach. Further increased the user's speed and power. And placed Guy sensei's body in condition of using Daytime Tiger. Opening it caused glowing green sweat from every inch of the body, which immediately evaporated from the sheer overheating the body was going through, creating an aura easily mistakable for chakra coating. Unfortunately, the side effects of opening the gate were that the user's muscle fibers are ripped to shreds, causing intense pain if anything or anyone touches them.

The Gate of Death (死門, Shimon), located at the heart. It basically burned your own life force.

I could keep up the first gate open for fifteen minutes before straining myself, the second one for ten minutes, the third for eight minutes, the fourth for three minutes, and the fifth for a single minute.

I was able to push those limits forward, but not without hurting myself.

_Learning to open another gate was just plain stupid, I could not learn to do so reliably in a month, so I should just focus on raising my tolerance? _I thought.

But how to do it? Only physical training would not grant me any significant power up with only a month of work.

_Work smarter not harder._ I tried to remind myself.

Like I often did when I was lost, I ran over my own recent thoughts. _Super Saiyan..._

"Didn't Goku do some shit before his fight with Cell that allowed him to stay blond without issues? And a normal Super Saiyan had anger issues, while my chakra gets turbulent with the gates opened..." I muttered.

_Only one way to know for sure._ I thought.

And so I started my new training.

* * *

_A month later_

The Hokage and his entourage arrived with little warning. Literally appearing out of nowhere in front if Iwa's main gate.

My team and I were waiting into the plaza after the giant stone doors when it happened, and the happy chatter of the market and carefree civilians turned into an excited one. Most of the older people paled realizing that a Kage with a group of ninjas hopping out of nowhere at your home's doorstep was a threat, nothing more, nothing less.

Onoki himself had come _flying_, literally, from his tower, not a second after one of the chunin guards had made known the outsiders' appearance.

The stone doors opened and Kakashi appeared at our side. I raised an eyebrow in his direction, but he simply stared towards the entering entourage.

Hiruzen Sarutobi spearheaded the group in his ceremonial white and red robes, his hat hiding his piercing eyes.

Walking behind the Hokage, on the left Guy sensei was wearing his serious face along with his usual attire, while Tsume Inuzuka was... _stalking_ forward, with a cautious expression on her face. Her one-eyed, four-legged companion gave a deep growl to the Haimaru brothers, who had smelled Hana and were having difficulties in staying put.

There was also a detail of six Anbu guards, but really, after Sarutobi and Guy's sensei presence they felt kind of dim.

I could feel their presence only because they wanted to be seen. _It probably would have been rude otherwise, keeping your presence hidden in a visiting hidden village? Bad form._

The Tsuchikage was... short. His hat as large as his shoulders, but he too was letting himself be perceived_._ And he was so damn _heavy_, even when floating in the air.

I was too far to overhear what I supposed were customary greetings between Kages, but I was floored nevertheless. Rapping in Japanese should not exist. It's a crime, period.

Strolling through the gates and approaching the two Kages, and accompanied by six of his Anbu, Killer B.

Dark skin and a muscular build, as well as blond hair and a goatee. On his right shoulder, he had a tattoo of the kanji for "iron" (鉄,Tetsu).

_Is that t__he Iron Armour Seal that was used to seal Gyūki into him? _I wondered.

Killer B wore oval-shaped sunglasses, his village's standard one-strap-over-one-shoulder flak jacket, and a long, red rope belt tied around his waist, the standard Kumo hand and shin guards, shinobi sandals, and a white scarf around his neck. And he actually carried seven swords on his back.

At that point I had stalked over to greet my Kage, along with my teammates.

"...ut I told him,

I won't overstep the line,

and it will be mighty fine!" he happily rapped on.

I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the situation, and the sheer potential for destruction held within Iwa's walls made me a bit skittish.

Two Kumo jinchuriki, two rival Kages, likely two Iwa jinchuriki around somewhere. It was a bomb ready to go off, and one of the heavy hitters was rapping bullshit.

I couldn't avoid thinking that if Iwa and Kumo had struck a deal, they could cut Konoha's head without hassle, before moving the war to my home country.

I was bowing to Sarutobi when another voice joined the chatter.

"Well, hello! I am not late am I? But how could I, after all, the gallant Jiraya is always in the right place at the right time!"

The situation had just taken an important turn.

If for the better or the worse, I couldn't tell just yet.

* * *

After the brief greeting of our own Kage, and more importantly of the Haimaru brothers and Guy sensei, we dodged the rowdy behavior of Tsume and moved to the arena.

A few jonin-sensors from Iwa checked our identities and let us into a balcony that let us watch the matches. The terrain was... rocky, but it had a small stream of water running on one side of it. Stream might have been a bit generous, it was more like a trickle.

I let my gaze fall upon the honor balcony, where the Kages and Killer B sat, along with the Kiri representative. I didn't recognize him, but I knew little of Mizu no Kuni. I knew nothing beyond the sanbi-jinchuriki-kage being under genjutsu and oppressing the people. And that their next Kage would be a total babe.

My eyes roamed over the crowd waiting to assist to the pointless bloodshed and found my sensei talking to Shin, who was slumped back in his seat.

_He really is enjoying his sake, the lazy cunt._ I pointed it out to Hana, which frowned in disapproval. She was still bitchy because she had too little time to play with the Haimaru brothers.

There were eight of us, Hana and I from Konoha, Yugito from Kumo, one weedy shinobi from Kiri, and three from Iwa. I glanced at the giant display where our names were being swapped around normally, choosing the couples of the matches.

My name flashed along with another that I didn't recognize, but the way the Iwa kid was rolling his shoulders with anticipation identified my first adversary for me.

I would be in the opening match, the Kiri shinobi against the Iwa Kunoichi would follow, Yugito would face the other Iwa shinobi, and lastly Hana would square it off with the last Iwa nin.

I briefly touched the big scroll hanging on my back, and glanced over my attire before walking down into the arena.

I had pulled all the stops and put on the results of the shopping spree I went on once I had returned to Konoha from patrol duty.

I wore a form-fitting black shirt with a deep hood and long sleeves under a traditional armor, very similar to the one Tobirama used to wear, only without the fur. My standard cargo blackish pants were wrapped around my calves by white bandages, and I wore black sandals. I had finally understood why so many shinobis and kunoichis preferred them over boots of every kind.

The feet needed to breathe, I found out during our week-long speed run when I didn't have time to change socks.

I had two kunai pouches strapped around my left tight (one contained kunais with paper bombs wrapped around the handles), spools of ninja wire in a big pocket, senbons in a pouch on my right tight. A belt was strapped around my shoulders, holding in place at the height of my waist a big scary scroll. Forearms and shins guards were in place, while I stopped wearing gloves. My hitai ate was on my forehead, showing to the world my allegiance. But I actually wanted it there. Hell, if I could wear a helmet without impairing my movements I would have.

My weights were in a scroll with my other belongings, tied around Alpha's neck. That dog was awesome.

I reached the middle of the arena and tuned out the proctor and the crowd, taking in my adversary.

_Iwa shinobi. 17. 170cm 60kg. No remarkable features, wrappings around wrists suggest heavy punch-based taijutsu, but the shoulders look underdeveloped for it. Likely a trap._

Basically_, _I knew nothing about him, I briefly regretted not spending some of the last month gathering info on the enemies I would be facing, but I had been too thrilled by my training to care.

My preoccupations and disgust for being paraded in an arena faded into the background of my mind, I was focused, and acutely aware that mistakes of any kind could cost me my life. Every sound that wasn't made by my opponent was erased from my awareness. Even Hana' shouts of faith in my skills.

The referee gave the start and jumped back.

The Iwa shinobi shot forward trying to engage me into a melee, but my hands already blurred through hand seals.

Tiger, Monkey, Dragon, Boar, Ram. I quickly and steadily shaped my yin chakra and slipped into the enemy' coils through his tenketsus. "Genjutsu: Anbaransu" I whispered.

And suddenly the Iwa nin ran into the ground face first. At that moment I knew that I wouldn't be breaking a sweat against him.

The genjutsu I had just used was a curious one. It was usually used by med nins to test the answer of the patient's cerebellum to a sudden shift in balance.

My yin chakra had slipped into the Iwa-nin's brain, affecting the part that handled the answering to the information provided by the internal ear.

Anbaransu meant 'Unbalance'. And it was a fucker.

The shinobi threw his arms around for a couple of seconds before his hands found each other. He formed a ram seal and disrupted his own chakra enough to slip through the genjutsu.

In the meantime I threw a kunai that embedded itself into the ground, less than a centimeter from the shinobi's head and I watched the referee with a bored expression.

He didn't say anything, and the Iwa shinobi was on his feet again and charged at me again with a wordless scream.

I molded my chakra with the ease fruit of years of practice and without hand seals, I kawarimed with the kunai I had embedded on the ground.

Kawarimi was another seriously underrated jutsu. It was most effective when you changed your position with a body most similar to yours. The thing you kawarimed with must not have chakra of its own, but besides that rule and distance related restrictions, there were no limitations. That was why a lot of Konoha nin performed it with logs. Organic matter, roughly similar mass. And it was simply a matter of _yanking _it from a tree's branch. The similarities between a human body and a piece of still alive wood (of similar mass) were enough to make the chakra cost of it negligible as well. Using a kunai for it was stupid unless you had exceptional reflexes and a chakra control worthy of a med nin.

Why the exceptional reflexes? Because mass mattered, and kawariming with a kunai meant having the rubber band flinging you into position instead of swapping. Kawariming with something a lot bigger than you was a chakra intensive shit nobody reasonably tried to do.

Kawarimi was almost like using a stretched rubber band to tie yourself to something before letting it do its job, effectively swapping your places.

Proving that he was not completely stupid the Iwa nin immediately turned on himself and came at me again, his hands moving through hand seals.

Again, I shaped my chakra, I jumped back performing a swiping high kick and kawarimed once again.

Recognizing my repeated technique the Iwa genin was already coming at me ready to spit something when the sole of my sandal slammed on his face, flattening his nose and hurling him back.

I took a deep breath while he was still flying and started changing my chakra. I shoot another bored look, only not at the referee, who was keeping quiet but at the honor balcony. I couldn't make out their facial expressions, but Sarutobi adjusted his hat. I had no idea if there was some hidden meaning in it.

I inhaled deeply, my hands slowly moving through hand seals: Boar, Horse, Tiger.

The chakra burned hot through the tenketsu at the base of my throat.

When my lungs were full, I whispered "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu." and blew toward the Iwa nin, who had performed a handstand and just landed on his feet.

The fireball formed in front of me and shot forward.

I separated my hands and cut off the chakra flow into the technique, it was far from perfect, but it was still the size of a desk. I coughed discreetly. _That jutsu always leaves my throat raw._ It meant I still had some work to do on it.

I stood still, waiting for the other genin to clumsily dodge the fireball.

His nose was bleeding and he was covered in dirt. He was also snarling. But really, he was low. One could be the next Hashirama, but being slow meant dying. Period. Unless you were Tsunade, but she was the exception, and I wasn't sure she was slow or not.

The Iwa nin repeated his hand seals and slammed his palms on the ground, hissing something under his breath. I couldn't hear him, since I was fifteen meters away. _At least someone thaught him that shouting your techniques doesn't make them any stronger._

Still, it was a doton jutsu, so when a spear of rock shot towards me from the ground I leaned on one side and dodged it, before ducking under a second and sidestepping the third.

The Iwa nin watched me with his mouth open. I tilted my head questioningly. Then I realized that he was simply baffled by my speed.

_Eh, without weights I feel lighter than air._

His shoulders had slumped down, already accepting defeat, but his expression tightened in one of determination. He wanted to go down swinging.

I sighed, without leaving him out of my sight, I allowed my focus to dim a bit, taking in once again the shouts from the crowd. There was a lot of encouragement going on for my opponent. _Good for him._ I thought.

Then I ran forward as fast as I could and slammed my knee in his gut, and once he bent forward I hit the base of his neck with my elbow. He slumped on the ground, unconscious.

Before the referee could call the match I threw another kunai at his head, this time grazing his hear.

The referee was immediately at my side, this time with a reproachful look on his face.

"Daiki from Konoha wins the match."

I raised an eyebrow, his disapproval washed over me. I was unimpressed, I humiliated him, but he was very much alive and in working condition.

"Really? Katon?" was Hana's reaction. But she was smiling a second after and congratulated me. She caught on on my wish to keep my suiton secret for later.

We shared a green and watched the following match.

It was the weedy Kiri shinobi facing the rather forgettable Iwa kunoichi who was glaring daggers at me.

_Probably the poor sod's teammate. _I would have been angry too if someone had tossed around my teammates like a ragdoll.

She hopped down the balcony and reached the Kiri shinobi in the center of the arena.

I watched carefully, I would be facing the winner of this match in the semifinals after all.

When the referee gave the start, the Kiri shinobi feinted toward the Iwa kunoichi before flickering over tho the small water stream and performing a few handseals.

"He's fast," Hana commented.

"Indeed," I replied. And he _was_ fast. Almost as fast as me. But I had no doubts that he was hiding his best tricks, just like I did.

The small stream rose from the ground while the Iwa kunoichi started pelting her adversary with an impressive dance made of shuriken and ninja wire.

"And she is the strongest of her team," Hana observed. The difference between her and the teammate I faced was as vast as it was obvious. Not only in the way she handled her weaponry, but in the way she chooses to test her enemy keeping her distance.

"She's at least less stupid." I snorted. It was a standard procedure.

The mist enveloped the couple, and the civilian part of the audience booed, they could no longer see teens killing each other. I scoffed, earning myself a confused look from Hana.

Then she followed my eyes and sighed. "They're civilians, you can hardly blame them if they want a show." She misunderstood me.

I looked the ninjas in the crowd, mostly watching attentively commenting among themselves about the techniques their enhanced senses could pick up.

I listened to the clashing of metal against metal, the occasional thud and let myself _feel_ the flaring of their two very different chakras colliding. "She _is _much better than her teammate." I amended my previous statement.

Suddenly, the kunoichi's chakra vanished from my senses and I grimaced.

The mist fell apart and the Kiri shinobi was standing over his opponent's headless body.

I pushed apart my dislike for the situation and I frowned, focusing on what was important. Hana's expression mirrored mine. "How did he decapitate her without anything resembling a blade?" she asked me.

"A strange kind of garrote or the very skillful use of ninja wire." I supplied it immediately. "Maybe she's wind natured. Wind can do some strange shit." I added, recalling Asuma's demonstration in the manga.

The Kiri shinobi returned to our balcony, his face was blank, but he seemed quite... content, of the splattered blood all over him. I looked him over, searching for revealing bulges under his clothes, telling calluses, or hidden weapons. Nothing. He was somewhat... adequate.

The next ones in the arena were Yuguto and the other Iwa shinobi.

I took the few moments before the beginning of the match to gesture to Hana. ~_Information gathering. Follow~_

She quirked her eyebrow at me, but I was already talking, so she immediately understood that I had just asked her to back me up.

It was time to mess with my next opponent, and squeezing my knowledge of the future for all it was worth I asked: "Ne, don't you find strange that from all the Kiri' ninjas there wasn't a single one with a kekkei genkai?"

I was discretely observing the shinobi from Mizu no Kuni when I said that so I noticed the minute tensing of his stance and, more importantly, the shift in his chakra. He was probably on an assassination team since he could keep his character disguised very well, but there was no mistaking the sudden feel of 'watchful-ness' that exuded from him.

"It is a bit strange." Hana agreed. "They do have some infamous ones after all. Which were them again? The ones with the bones?"

"The Kaguya, yeah. One of the three founder clans of Kiri, if I remember it right." I drawled.

Then the match began and I turned my attention towards the jinchuriki. Naruto had all the subtlety of a sledge hammer, was stupid, and had lousy chakra control, but fighting someone that basically didn't run out of chakra was a problem.

Hana too was carefully watching the match. Yugito had already engaged in a melee, her nails black and twenty centimeters long scraping against the kunais and armguards of her adversary.

"Taijutsu specialist." Hana analyzed, her lips parting to reveal her sharper than normal canines. Then she narrowed her eyes when she took notice of Yugito pattern of attacks.

"The Kumo's girl has no hope, Daisuke is the best in taijutsu." the only remaining Iwa shinobi sniffed.

Then a blaze of blue fire engulfed Yugito's opponent and the sarcastic comment I was preparing died down.

_Why killing him?_ I sighed. There was so much wrong with these people. Then I glared murder to the cheering crowd. _Disgusting_.

Hana was unaffected by the display, but she was tactful enough to not poke fun at the Iwa shinobi she was about to face.

I watched Yugito with a blank expression, but not hiding my disapproval either.

She locked her eyes with mine and we entered a staring contest, ignoring the beginning of Hana's fight completely.

When the Kumo kunoichi finally arched an eyebrow, it took it as a victory and bluntly asked: "Why kill him? You were clearly superior enough to subdue him without unnecessary bloodshed."

She slowly tilted her head, suddenly reminding me of a cat. _Did the Nibi bleed over?_

I knew that the bijus were not inherently evil, but sure as hell they didn't fucking care about killing humans. And obviously, whatever shit happened to Yugito in the manga to make her approachable hadn't happened yet.

She offered a predatory smile that confirmed my fear.

At the loud cheering, I turned my attention to the center of the arena, where a ruffled Hana was standing over a slumped form, cradling her left arm like it was broken.

Technically, it would be my turn immediately after they left the arena, but I didn't care, and hopped down to the mednins taking care of her in the corridor that led to the stairs which opened the way to the contestants' balcony.

I rushed over, taking in the bored expression on the Iwa med-nin's face.

She rolled her eyes at my appearing at her side instead of being in the arena. "Just go." she interrupted me.

And my name was being called by the referee, so I just squeezed Hana's not injured hand and went ahead.

_She owes me a favor doesn't she? I can use it to have her surrender against Yugito instead of getting herself killed._

I planned, and I soon found myself into the arena, facing the Kiri shinobi.

I was distracted, and had to talk with Hana before her match, so, I wanted to get it done quickly.

In the moment the referee gave the start and jumped back, I _let go_ of the hold I kept on the first gate. "Kaimon, kai." I whispered. It required the same effort of snapping my fingers.

A split second later I was on the Kiri shinobi, who simply hadn't time to react in any way beyond widening his eyes.

My elbow slammed against his temple and he went down. Simply as that.

Without closing the gate, I _ran_ to the contestants' balcony, ignoring the referee calling my victory.

Hana was looking at me with a sly grin on her face. She opened her mouth to comment about my blood thirsty-ness but I cut her off.

"I'm calling in my favor, if things get too hard against your next opponent, don't escalate, surrender." I whispered to her in a conceited tone.

She frowned, offended by my request. "You don't think I can win." She replied, her tone hurt. She took a step back from me but I grabbed her not hurt wrist, preventing her to further the distance between us.

"It's not that." _Even if it's true. _"Please, just trust me on this." _She has an arm in a cast, too._

She moved her hand in a clockwise motion, freeing herself. "Why should I?" and she showed me her teeth in a way that was as far from a smile as it was possible, regressing to the most basic expression of aggressivity her clan was capable of.

"It's clear that you don't trust me!" She hissed, and jumped down the balcony, kicking away my hand that was trying to grab her at the same time.

I grabbed the rail and was about to follow her when I was yanked back.

I spun as fast as I could, my right leg sweeping low and my right arm already jabbing forward to crush the trachea of whoever was so stupid to surprise a shinobi in a stressful moment.

My right wrist was grabbed in a steely hold and my right leg impacted painfully against the shin of the one behind me.

"A spat with your girlfriend is not a reason to lash out to the concerned super pervert!" Jiraya of the Sannin lectured me.

He was a tall and well-built man. He had waist-length, spiky white hair tied back into a ponytail, with two shoulder-length bangs framing his face. There were red lines under his eyes which extended further down his face, going all the way to the bottom. Wrinkles around the corners of his mouth and a wart on the left side of his nose. He was in his usual attire, which consisted of a green short shirt kimono and matching pants, under which he wore mesh armor that was visible at his wrists and ankles. He also wore handguards, a black belt, traditional Japanese wooden sandals, and a red haori with two yellow circles on each side. He carried a large scroll on his back, he wore a horned forehead protector with the kanji for "oil" (油, abura).

I knew who he was, I knew what he was capable of. That didn't stop me from trying to toss him out of my way and going to Hana's side. Hana was going to get herself killed. I stopped thinking.

My right leg bent and I tried to kick his knee out of place while I applied the same clockwise motion with my right hand, freeing my wrist.

I shot my hand forward again, a chakra scalpel forming on my fingertips.

He was surprised, I could tell, but with the same ease I had dispatched Kurotsuchi, he had pinned me down an instant later.

I tried to lash out in any way but I could no longer feel my chakra. _Fucking seal masters_.

Immediately, my mind went in overdrive, I was almost in a frenzy. I couldn't free myself. So, convincing him it was.

"She's going to get herself killed!" I hissed.

The sannin looked at me with an unreadable expression. "And how would you know that?"

In my frenzy, I suddenly found again my calm. _I shouldn't know that she's a jinchuriki should I?_

"Because she and the rapping guy have a strange as fuck bloodline, she's dangerous, and Hana is for one hit and escape tactics, not face to face battle, and she's injured." I spoke quickly.

The man tilted his head, his spiky white mane following the movement. "And what do you propose I do? Let you jump in and break the chunin charter, throwing us into another war with Iwa? And Kumo too, for what matters."

I heard a scream. _Hana_.

I tried to break whatever shit he had placed on me but I really had no idea how to go about it, I could move only my head.

But it wasn't true, I was breathing, I was alive, that meant that my heart was working and that my diaphragm was moving. Moving muscles meant that only the muscles I contracted consciously were out of my control. Maybe I could do something...

"I expect you to save a kunoichi from the leaf. Order her to surrender!" I said, desperately looking for something into the eyes of the toad sage.

If understanding or pity, I didn't know.

I couldn't even _feel _what was happening in the arena since I was cut off from my own chakra.

"You all signed up for this, death was a possible conclusion, but it was her choice." He answered.

"She's been bred and raised to kill and be killed, _she doesn't know a choice exists!_" I snarled back. "Either let me go or help me!"

The crowd started screaming. And I couldn't see anything, pinned on the ground as I was.

"She's free to surrender at any time." Jiraya pointed out. Then glanced over the rail to see what was happening. "Not that she looks willing to do so."

Before I could answer, he went on: "The best you can do for your teammate is cheering for her, like everyone from Konoha is doing."

I narrowed my eyes: "Will you let me go if I cheer for her?"

The sannin arched an eyebrow and smirked. _I'm not stupid._ His answer was clear.

I tried to fall into myself, the gates were something one could open only through gruesome training, reaching a level of self-awareness, of proprioception, capable of giving you a _feel_ of the gates. Since they weren't something one was simply aware of. Then it came the more complex part of managing to open them. At first it was like breaking down a door, with time, one grew used to it enough that the breaking door became a dam bursting open. My training had... loosened the dam. For me opening the first gate was more similar to cutting a single string, and closing it required roughly half an hour of meditation.

But all the extra chakra flowing through my body was no longer turbulent, fast, yes, it stretched the capacity of my coils, yes, but it was steady. Once I got really used to the first gate I would replicate the same training with the other gates, until I managed the first five or six, the last two were not something a human body could handle. Since my body was still maturing it should even increase my chakra capacity, since my coils were still developing.

Anyway, opening the gates was not a direct manipulation of your chakra, so it should have bypassed the seals that I couldn't perceive that Jiraya had placed on me.

I tried, like I had planned to do to free myself in the first stage. But it didn't work.

"Let me see her." I growled when the crowd went 'oooh' again.

The sannin rose me from the ground and kept me right holding on the scruff of my neck. I still could move only my head.

_Maybe he's doing something through my tenketsus and it's not a seal..._

But my ability to analyze the situation left me when Yugito's arm punched through Hana's ribcage, her black, sharp black _claws_ covered in blood and with shards of bone exploding from my team mate's body.

Even then, it wasn't that the detail that burned itself in my mind. No, far from that. I could see Yugito's face over Hana's shoulder.

She was smiling.


	12. Blooming Flood

Some part of me recognized Jiraya letting me go, and I detachedly watched my own body as it belonged to someone else moving into the arena and reaching Hana.

I was a competent field med nin, but even Tsunade could do nothing to a hole in the chest of a normal person.

I stared at her, she was already no longer breathing. I looked into her eyes but they were already staring unblinkingly at the sky.

I felt... hollow, somewhat. She was gone, I spoke to her less than twenty minutes before, and managed to fuck up even that interaction. She went into the fight distracted by my behavior and...

_No._ I stopped myself. She was dead because Yugito had killed her. In a more wide sense, _everything _that was happening that did not perfectly match Kishimoto's storyline was my fault. Butterfly effect and whatnot.

I knew that in the story she grew up to be somewhat human, mentality wise. But how many would she butcher in the meantime?

In that moment I choose. Fuck the storyline.

My rage wasn't burning, it didn't throw me into a mindless frenzy. Even when the med nins brought away Hana's body I didn't acknowledge my wrath as anything but a slight roughness that permeated my chakra. I smoothed it down, breathing deeply and slowly.

I wanted to lash out at _something_. At Jiraya, who had prevented me from interfering. At the Hokage, who had likely ordered him to do so. At Hana's mother, who didn't intervene. At Guy, who most certainly lost the privilege of being called sensei.

I wanted to lash out at everything, because everyone was bred and raised to accept the _utter_ _bullshit_ that the shinobi system was.

I wanted to lash out at the bijus for letting themselves get captured, making sure that no matter what, the practice of children raised as soldiers would stay a must in every hidden village worth its name.

I realized, no, I already knew, that people raised to be zealots could hardly be blamed for their actions, but they still needed to be stopped. I even pitied them.

I was disgusted by the whole situation. I even understood Jiraya's actions. The chunin exams, while rigged, must uphold the pretense of being fair. Jumping into the fray would have been a useful excuse. For Kumo to get offended by Konoha stopping them from showing off their jinchuriki, and for Iwa to confirm under the eyes of the world that Konoha was an oath breaker of some kind.

Neither would be true, but ninjas existed for war, and every occasion was good to start one.

I didn't know about Iwa, but Kumo had been pumping their own numbers for some time and even attempted to steal a Byakugan knowing that they could go to war in case of failure. Konoha had been too weak so soon after the Kyubi attack and as such the village had to sacrifice Hizashi to prevent the fourth ninja war.

I had never shared mankind's common belief that one evil rectifies another. Or in that case, in murdering the murderer. So I wouldn't be killing Yugito because of Hana's death.

I would kill her because she was smiling while killing Hana. And that world didn't need a sadist with the power of a biju.

I knew that in the manga Sasuke had managed to fend off two tails of the Kyubi thanks to the sharingan and the cursed seal. But Naruto had been around 13 years old at the time, so his body was not really that powerful.

And he only held half of the kyubi, so I really had no idea of what kind of strength the Kumo's jinchuriki possessed.

_Pointless_. It was pointless reasoning. I wanted her dead. So I didn't have any further consideration to do. I would go all out. Period.

I walked to the center of the arena, taking in the several craters and splatters of blood on the ground. Jiraya didn't let me see the match, but it went on for a while, and the tracks painted something far from reassuring. And from the way my opponent was licking her lips, it was clear that she had toyed with Hana.

I unlatched the strap that held the big scroll on my back and started calling forth my chakra.

The referee gave the start and jumped back.

I brought my hands forward in a cross-shaped seal: "Kage bunshin no jutsu." I said, and without waiting and threw myself forward with all my considerable speed, a kunai held in each hand.

I knew that my face was blank and my breath even. I knew because I could see my reflection in the Jinchuriki widening pupils while my first slash embedded a kunai in her left shoulder.

Without stopping, I stomped on her left foot with my right one, latching on it with my chakra like I was going to walk on walls.

My left knee rose sharply, raising her right arm and breaking down her defenses.

My second kunai was embedded up to the hilt in her stomach a split second later, my raised left leg now fully extended turning into an axe kick that slammed on her right clavicle gifted us a sharp crack that signaled a broken bone.

With my arms, I started hitting in a flurry that couldn't be stopped now that the only libs she had in working condition were her legs, and I was keeping her left leg pinned.

She wisely dropped her head protecting her vulnerable throat, and my uppercut broke her nose, I followed with an elbow to her temple.

I raised the leg which had been pinning her down and kicked her with a wide movement when she was swaying.

I wasn't using any technique, so I had no necessity to call out the names of my moves. Manipulating chakra had a lot to do with emotions and what one could feel of himself. Calling the name of the technique helped greatly keeping the mind focused on the intended result. While one day I would be able to do a lot of things with suiton without needing to call out the techniques, the same couldn't be said for the elements I wasn't naturally suited for. A brief flare of Katon to lit a cigarette? Sure, a fireball? No chance in hell.

Even the Konoha Senpuu was something I would need to call out loud because it made my chakra flow into a pattern that favored my movements. But I wasn't there yet with Yugito. Every punch and elbow I threw at her hadn't been part of a whole technique, simply taking advantage of weaknesses.

I reduced her a mess with a mesh of hits that had nothing to do one with another.

I watched her impassively as she straightened up after being flung away. Her chakra was already changing.

The relatively normal presence of the kunoichi was swallowed by a heavier, older, more feral one.

The miasmatic red chakra pulsed out of her skin carrying a bloodlust that wasn't human and that gave me pause for a moment. But the cheering of the crowd made me focus like nothing before. It was a show for them. It didn't matter that I was fifteen, that I had dreams and hopes, that I had just lost a teammate. They were having fun after all.

I didn't let her settle and charged again a flurry of senbon and a kunai tagged with a paper bomb gave me an opening.

Or they should have, the senbons fell at my opponent's feet, and she spat towards me a fireball that set off the paper bomb wrapped around the handle of my kunai, engulfed the explosion and came in my direction with a vengeance.

I threw myself on the side, my hand laced with chakra digging on the ground redirecting my momentum and changing my trajectory.

I reached her on the side, her clawed hand slashing at my eyes ground against the chakra scalpel I had formed from my fingertips. She was starting to sprout her first tail, and we were locked into a melee, my chakra scalpels wobbling and occasionally failing since her miasmatic chakra disrupted the necessary delicate control I had to exercise to keep them up.

My kunais were getting broken very fast, and in less than a minute, I was left with only a handful of them.

"Konoha Senpuu." And I was everywhere she wasn't, hitting with kicks, and punches, every single one heavy as a warhammer. I had to dodge or redirect every single one of her attacks, but I was managing it.

Then her first tail fully manifested and swiped at me, dragging with it rocks it had somehow dug out of the ground. I ran away and kept my distance for a couple of seconds, taking in her changed form.

She was hunched forward, her reddish chakra tail moving erratically from the base of her back, her claws digging into the rocky ground. Where I had plunged my kunais, there were only holes in her clothes.

I watched around and noticed that the before the negligible trickle of water had become a respectable stream and that there was a quickly growing pond on the side of the arena. My Kage bunshin had successfully unsealed the tons of liters of water I had sealed in the scroll. The only downside was that it took a while for them to leave the pocket dimension they were into.

But I could keep distracting the jinchuriki for a while. Even if she was no longer taking damage, she could barely keep up with my offensive.

I distractedly noticed seals glowing on the walls of the arena and a barrier developing to protect the crowd. _Wise move._

I didn't let the nibi jinchuriki out of my sight, so I was prepared when she flung herself at me. She had become faster, and if a tad bit less predictable, there wasn't a sense behind her blows, she slashed at everything in range.

She managed to slash my left eyebrow open, but it wasn't serious, and I managed to direct medical chakra at it through the tenketsu in the middle of my forehead.

From time to time she remembered to jab her arm forward, but otherwise it was a neverending twister of swipes. Her kicks were telegraphed, her arms hid no following movement. She wasn't building up openings, just hitting whatever came into the sight of her mismatched eyes.

I flowed around her blows, touching them the bare minimum only when I had to redirect them, I was wary of her after her first successful hit.

But I kept hitting every time I was safe in doing so. A jab at her throat, a senbon plunged into her bicep reached her brachial artery, with a push I managed to keep a chakra scalpel long enough to open a deep cut on her tight and reached the femoral artery.

After three minutes during which she grew more and more flustered with her failed attempts to shred me, she plunged her left arm straight towards my face, amply overreaching.

I simply reacted. I turned my torso sideways, my left hand plunging my last kunai with an upwards swing into her wrist, twisting it while pulling so that I could hyperextend her arm. My right open palm slammed into her elbow and bending it into the wrong direction earning me a _yowl_. I gave a swipe on my own, my right hand turning straight and forming a chakra scalpel on its fingertips.

I felt my chakra _teari__ng_ into her face, more exactly, cutting open the bridge of her nose and neatly bisecting her left eye.

Then I only had time to bring up both my arms in a cross guard to defend myself from the tail that slammed into me with the strength of a landslide.

There was an earth-shattering **roar** and her chakra rumbled, turning once more heavier, and her bloodlust skyrocketed.

The referee hopped behind the barrier, and I couldn't blame him. My armguards were shattered and my forearms lost their layer of skin. Letting the world see the deep red of my muscles beneath it.

Without tearing my eyes away from my opponent, I directed medical chakra to the tenketsus on the upper side of my forearms, which soon were enveloped in a faint green glow. My skin regrowing without issues, even if I wanted to scratch myself like a dog with fleas.

I ignored the awed sounds from the crowd and focused on keeping the flow steady.

I flickered around the arena, picking up my still whole kunais and appreciating the fact that I finally had to walk on water, even if it was less than a half meter deep. Still, it covered the whole arena, even if it was evaporating when it reached a meter from the jinchuriki. And we had been fighting on a small plateau of the arena, so it made sense that it was still not very noticeable.

Her second tail was starting to sprout, so I tested her reactivity throwing a blunted kunai. Her first tail twitched and parried it.

_She's already getting faster_.

Sure as hell I wasn't letting her complete her transformation into the second version of her chakra cloak. It was unlikely that she could already turn into Matatabi, but I wasn't eager to find out.

I took a deep breath and crouched like I was about to sprint. Spinning my chakra through my coils, I felt the vague slowing down of it in my brain. From there, I focused on the second gate, in the same way, one could focus on his own heart. I took a deep breath.

"Kyūmon, kai."

The chakra surged forward like boiling water, messily churning through my coils. I gritted my teeth, forcibly tweaking the energy that made it turbulent into making it flow faster through my stretched coils.

It took me three very long seconds to accomplish it, and I couldn't have done so if Yugito wasn't otherwise busy.

My clone hadn't been idle and let two Mizu-bushins pelt the Kumo kunoichi with kunais and senbons. While they mostly evaporated because of the sheer heat surrounding the malevolent chakra, they had managed to distract her and stall her transformation.

And I could always use the vapor to my advantage as a cover. I eyeballed a real kunai on the ground in front of my opponent and gestured _~Dispel_My water bushins followed the order.

Since they had been made by my Kage bunshin, he was the one to control them, but he had his task to deal with, even if I appreciated his... mine?... Whatever, even if I appreciated his well-timed intervention.

I ran sideways before charging at Yugito from behind, already molding my chakra and throwing a kunai in a high arc ahead of me.

She turned in my direction with a snarl and blew a blue fireball without needing hand signs.

I kawarimed with the kunai at her feet and swiped her legs from beneath her, making her airborne, parallel to the ground.

Her tail immediately came crashing down on me but I kawarimed again, this time with the kunai I had thrown before, which was less than half a meter from her side.

I was holding my breath while I grabbed the kunai I had kawarimed with the first time and plunged it in the side of her neck as deep as I could, feeling it slam into her spine.

I stepped back and brought my hands together in a cross-shaped seal, only, it was sideways, more like an X than a Christian cross.

"Ninpō: Ashura." I chanted. And I shaped my chakra like I was going to create two Kage bunshins, only twisting its shape on my side of the chakra wall beyond which one normally shaped a kage bunshin.

My first one dispelled, giving back the little chakra he hadn't poured into the water overflowing from the scroll.

My torso became a mess, I was a shinobi with two legs, six arms, and three heads. Zoro from one piece had been the inspiration for that adaptation of the Kage Bunshin no jutsu.

The other two me raised their hands, channeling suiton chakra to summon the water from around us. It was already, even if in a very diluted form, laced with my chakra, so it made their work easier.

My actual hands left the X shaped seal and disposed of themselves for the next step. Each fingertip pressed against its counterpart, the fingers arched and forming a rough spherical cage in which the water started swirling.

In theory, water cannot be compressed. That's the whole principle behind every kind of pump. Yet, with chakra, masses of water could multiply themselves. I had proven so turning a mouthful of blood into a modified teppodama during the first stage. There were several liters of liquid in that technique, most certainly more than what my mouth had been able to contain.

So, the water between my hands swirled into a pinpoint large sphere, twin rivers directed by the other two me forming a whirlpool around me.

It sounded like being under a waterfall. The water was crashing and thundering around me, hating to be constricted into any form.

The Suiton: Rasengan grew heavier in my hands, every liter of water multiplying itself through the chakra poured by the other two me and being impossibly compressed between my hands.

All the water in the arena answered to my Ashura's form's call.

The other two me were focused on calling forth, augmenting the mass of water, and pouring their chakra into it.

I simply had to keep it spinning, coalescing the two twin rivers into a ball that soon became of the same blue of the deepest ocean, It was eating chakra like mad, but I noticed that I was having an easier time than in training.

When _all _the water was contained between my hands, the other two me placed their hands into a horse handseal.

I was ready.

The technique had reached the point in which I no longer had to force it.

So I stood over the prone body of the jinchuriki, the malevolent chakra working in overdrive to repair the damage I had inflicted on Yugito's spine.

"Matatabi, a man stole your father's eyes and wants to give your siblings back to the one Hagoromo and Hamura battled," I whispered.

I had no idea if the biju could hear me or not, but a piece of convoluted advice was something I could give. I was mostly sure that nobody else could hear me, but the message was cryptic enough to throw anyone for a loop.

I thundered: "Suiton: Saku Kōzui!"

(Blooming Flood) and I let the unrelenting, unstoppable force between my hands go, trusting the other two sides of me to keep the waters from crushing me.

As soon as I opened the 'cage' the water exploded into a wave that rose into a maelstrom. In the time it took my heart to complete a single beat, the mass of water went from being held between my hands to pushing against the walls of the arena, crushing everything in between.

The churning water was locked in a clockwise motion around me, it rose two, three, four, six meters high and it kept moving. Half a meter beyond the eye of the whirlpool, at the base of which I was standing, having joined the other two me in a horse handseal intent in making sure the water didn't kill me, it was chaos.

The waves crossed the arena in a split second, slamming against the fuinjutsu barriers with the force of an avalanche, breaking apart the ground, tearing the now dead body of Yugito to shreds. Compressing rocks until they were sand, bending and snapping the kunais that littered the ground like they were toothpicks in the hands of an angry giant. I controlled only the comparatively small whirlpool around me, which was my only defense against the contrasting currents beyond it, against the sheer _weight_ of the tons and tons of water that I unleashed.

If it wasn't for my chakra saturating it, I wouldn't have had a single chance of surviving my technique.

Way higher than my head, the waves moved erratically, crashing one against the other and battering the barrier that protected the spectators.

Three seconds after I had unleashed the technique, of Yugito's body there was no longer anything recognizable.


	13. Interlude

**KAKASHI**

* * *

I was infamous for many things. The one I was most proud of was being late, on the important and official occasions, of a couple of hours, on the others... well. Sometimes events conspired more heavily against me.

I was sitting near Guy, perfecting my ability to ignore selectively my surroundings, when I overheard Tsume pointing out how rare it was to see me on time at any event.

So I dug out the second thing I was proud to be known for and let out a perverted giggle. _Oh Kimiko, you naughty girl..._

Hearing the defeated sigh of Tsume and Guy's reproachful shouts I giggled some more, satisfied by my success.

I heard the extraction take place and the names being posted on the display. I rolled my eye at the inevitability of having the two Konoha nin placed on the opposite sides of the tournament. After the far too obvious pairings of the preliminaries, Iwa showed to be fair to the world.

The first on the field was Guy's strange student. If not for the actual dislike in regards to killing or his usual meek behavior I would have tagged him for a spy of some kind.

But his paper trail was clear, and there were multiple witnesses, it wasn't possible preparing a sleeping agent at two years of age. And his movements had always been accounted for.

His stealing habits hadn't been exactly never heard before the news. The pattern of his thefts however painted an intriguing picture.

The pattern had always been the same, stealing a little, and only randomly, while heavingly hitting people who were already common targets of other pickpocketers.

After his targets had called in D ranks to apprehend the thieves, Guy's student stopped pursuing them, leaving the other thief to take the blame.

That lead to think he was being trained separately, but he clearly wasn't Root, and his movements were as clear as they could possibly be.

He wasn't the first academy student to apply ninja teachings to take advantage from the civilians. And if he didn't get caught, it was a good training as any. He had never made a mistake, and never changed his method, and that rose a few eyebrows.

I remembered being surprised too while skimming his file.

Most of his written work at the academy had been mediocre at best, and while he started as one of the worst in the physical aspects, like many others from civilians families, he had been observed showing an uncommon single-minded focus in improving.

Few had such a drive, and every single one had a reason behind it.

Sakumo. I tensed when I thought of the name, the images of the last time I saw him being summoned in my head before he could redirect his thoughts. I relaxed a bit when the familiar sting if the pain came in a bit dulled.

_Time heals all, doesn't it? _

Then my covered eye twitched, and a spasm ran through my hand, reminding me that it was bullshit.

I went back to my reasoning, looking for the missing piece.

Sakumo had shown himself as the greatest of his generation, a man who had been on par with Hanzo himself, only to remember to Konoha that even if his clan had been one of the last to join the hidden village, it was more than able to carry its weight.

Guy had pushed himself beyond what common humans were able to accomplish for his father. To make him proud first, and to honor his memory after.

I had been much the same. I giggled pervertedly turning a page, absentmindedly tracing the parallels between myself and the man who called me his eternal rival.

Itachi had been another, a peerless talent gifted with the Sharingan, forced to grow up too fast. Heir of a founding clan, exceptional shinobi, pushing himself to gain his father's acceptance and being strong so that his newborn brother didn't need to.

Another strange thing about Guy's strange student had been his awkward friendship with the now missing-nin. They exchanged myths, that was what the boy's file had said.

Again, strange, but two lonely kids could bond on the strangest things.

What had been strange was the two keeping up their talking nights even when Itachi entered Anbu.

But if there was any secret the now missing-nin had been more than able to keep it hidden, and his reports on...

The referee called the names, and I went on, finally remembering the boy's name.

And Itachi's reports on Daiki had been professionally filed.

The spar between the two had been a strange event. I had been one of the several Anbus observing the fight, and it had been... strange.

Itachi had been clearly testing Daiki, but the why left open even more questions.

Yes, Guy's student was strange in many ways.

But he wasn't a spy, nor a traitor neither would be so stupid as to try to fish for secret techniques with the Sandaime in the same room.

There were people difficult to read, and people who were so obvious that they resulted in complex. Jiraya was one, and likely that was why the Sandaime had asked him to attend the chunin tournament.

There were many things strange about Guy's student. I had been discretely keeping an eye on him, but it looked like he had fashioned himself a sensing technique that I still had no idea how to bypass.

That he managed to do so at... dunno, fifteen? Was impressive.

I observed the first match from behind the orange covered book.

He opened with a genjutsu I was unfamiliar with, but that got Tsume laughing. If it was for the technique or the humiliation of Iwa nin was impossible to tell.

Unless one knew Tsume, in that case, she was obviously laughing at the poor boy flailing on the ground.

Daiki had schooled his expression in one that screamed 'bored' and elegantly pointed out that he could already have killed his opponent.

_He is actually reticent when it comes down to killing isn't he?_ I wondered.

"I hadn't seen a kawarimi performed without hand seals in a while!" Tsume exclaimed.

I slowly blinked. It wasn't about the kawarimi, but the way he had jumped and replaced himself. It spoke of countless hours of practice. It was hardly an interesting way to train oneself.

_What does drive him?_ I asked myself once more.

The fireball was sloppy, but clearly he wanted it to be more a display of skill than anything else.

I remembered the show he had put up for my benefit back in Konoha, impressive, I had actually never seen anything like that before. But it had been obviously something he showed me only to distract me from the topic we had been facing.

_He has much to learn..._ Directing a conversation subtly isn't something one learns without practice.

I grinned under my mask when he threw another kunai on the ground, this time actually drawing blood.

He was strange, but it was easy to appreciate some of his quirks.

I returned to my book, the genins would hardly be showing something I hadn't witnessed already.

I already knew he was able to use the gates, but even Guy used them only when strictly needed, and with the speed, he ran towards his teammate, it was clear he had no intention of closing it. _Perhaps he forgot?_

But it was unlikely, none of his strange characteristics ever pointed to absent-minded behavior.

I narrowed my eye. His breathing was far too regular for being one with the first gate open. Guy could breathe calmly with those opened, but he had a lifetime of training in it.

"Such an explosion of youth!" Guy thundered, "Don't you think so, my rival?"

I slowly trailed my eye on the taijutsu master in green spandex: "Hm? Did you say something?"

I returned my attention to his student, holding in the satisfied sigh that threatened to escape me when Guy commented on my 'hip attitude'.

But I was curious, what kind of training did he undergo? He was a strange kind.

My eyebrow climbed on my forehead when I looked at his heated exchange with his teammate. Even for me, his lips were too far to be read.

My eye widened when Jiraya of all people jumped the boy and made him disappear behind the rails of the balcony.

Guy was just as surprised, while Tsume and the drunk genin had eyes only for the Inuzuka. The four ninkens were cutely wiggling their tails in support.

_Bisuke would like to play with them so much_. I distractedly thought.

My eye returned to the fight, they hadn't even bothered in keeping hidden the jinchuriki from Kumo. The signs were obvious for anyone who knew where to look.

I blinked. _Is this why Daiki fussed over the girl? _

The following question was as obvious as it was intriguing: _How did he know?_

He was a strange shinobi indeed.

When the jinchuriki killed Tsume's daughter, I almost visibly flinched. How it happened fell a little too close to home. My forearm twinged.

I sighed in sympathy, distractedly looking Tsume's four-legged companion herd away the other three desperate ninkens and Guy place a strong arm around the grieving mother's shoulders.

Not a spark of emotion was on display on any of our faces, but Tsume's chakra had surged forward like a wolf stalking a prey. Her entire demeanor had changed. There was no time for grief, no privacy to grieve, no room for revenge.

I watched as Tsume's eyes locked themselves on the last Konoha genin in the competition. In that moment, she placed the revenge duty on him.

I looked for Jiraya, but he had disappeared from my senses. Sensei's sensei did it often.

I even closed my Icha Icha Paradise and slid it into my flak jacket, the only thing I could do for Tsume's pain was being watchful for future weaknesses to exploit.

Another question was: _Did Sandaime-sama know about the jinchuriki when he assigned the mission?_

I tossed a look at the honor balcony trying to glean some message from the way the Kage was sitting, but to no avail.

Opening with a Kage bunshin was an amateur's mistake. It was reassuring not being the only one fighting, but it was a fake shield.

When the clone grabbed the scroll and ran to one side of the arena, disguising himself among the rocks, I was intrigued much more.

The following taijutsu exchange lasted 15 seconds. 15 seconds during which the Kumo kunoichi hadn't been able to do anything.

It had been unrelenting and exceptionally violent.

My eye found out what the clone had been doing and I tilted my head questioningly. Opening a scroll and unseal whatever it held within hardly required all that time. Even if it was... water?

The boy was a suiton user, so he came prepared with his own source of water. _Good on him_.

I couldn't find the clone, but there still had to be the telling poof of the Kage bunshin dispelling. That meant it was still around, perhaps setting traps. The modified henge he had shown himself capable of was easily adaptable to keep one hidden from sight.

I watched as Guy's student faltered for a split second before keeping up his offensive. _Is he using himself as a distraction? Bold._

But there was no denying that the genin was fast, stupidly so.

And he was keeping his head, not panicking, as he weathered the jinchuriki assault.

I blinked once more in surprise when a faint green glow enveloped the wound on his eyebrow. _How did he do that?_

Several of his hits had reached vital points of his opponent, and yet he didn't relent his assault.

_He took notice that the previous wounds he inflicted are already healed._

I nodded thoughtfully, once more tuning out the youthful encouragements Guy was shouting.

He went in for the kill with his chakra scalpel shredding the left side of the Kumo kunoichi's face.

He paid the price with the tail hitting his guard. He didn't lose his focus, that thing must have burned like hell, but he had kept his eyes on the opponent, a green glow once more covering his wounds and leaving only unmarred skin behind.

"Genjutsu, Katon, Healing, the Gates... what have you taught him Guy?" I murmured to myself.

Sadly, my eternal rival heard me with his highly trained ears and answered something about the endless power of youth.

I picked my ear and turned in his direction suddenly as he had just found his seat. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

By then everyone had noticed the water, and I was curious myself. He had bargained the Kage Bunshin no jutsu with the promise of a suitably flashy suiton jutsu.

His use of kawarimi was flawless, and he had managed to temporarily incapacitate his opponent. The jinchuriki's chakra was still going strong, kunai in the neck or not, so it was understandable that the referee chose to stay safely tucked behind the barrier.

When he sprouted two extra heads and I saw the telltale poof of a Kage bunshin dispelling, I knew we were about to see it.

There wasn't a build-up of chakra, no sudden flare, like almost everything the boy did, it was controlled and with as little wasted chakra as possible.

Whatever anyone else said, it was flashy.

Sure he had needed the whole battle to set it up, and had needed to immobilize his opponent for thirty seconds or more but the end effect was...

When the other two sides of him placed their hands into horse hand seals, I couldn't resist.

I used my thumb and lifted my headband enough to take a peek.

He was holding the water equivalent of the sun in his hands. It was too dense for me to make out any distinguishing feature of the chakra that made the technique.

His refusal to use hand signs forbid me from simply copying the technique, it was a pity too, it was so promising, but I didn't lower my headband, the Hokage would probably pick my brain later.

Still, I admit that I was hunched forward like the rest of the audience when he shouted the name of the technique.

"Suiton: Saku Kōzui!"

And he let go the equivalent of a small sea from his hands.

Obito's eye picked up the dust and pebbles being shot away from the boy in an ample circle, and when I saw the Kumo Jinchuriki being pushed on the floor for a split second I discretely placed my fingers in my ears.

Just in time, because the exploding mass of water had compressed the air, which ran ahead of the blooming flood with an earth-shattering '**boom**'

The mass of water grew as a twirling semisphere and slammed against the walls of the arena, making the more cautious of us to stand in case the arena was suddenly destroyed.

But the water didn't finish her work against the wall, it kept raising, digging and crushing everything in between.

It all happened in less than a quarter of a second.

And my first thought, I admit it freely, was that the kid had killed himself.

Then first the Sharingan, then my normal eye, picked up a consistent twirl in the middle of the arena. I could tell that the water had lost whatever semblance of order since waves were moving in different directions, and I could feel with my feet the trembling of the ground.

Half a minute later, the twirl in the middle of the arena became a small, almost delicate whirlpool. And from the murky waters, Daiki climbed on the surface with unsteady legs. He was panting and looked like he was about to keel over.

But hell, surviving your own technique was half of the job.

* * *

**ONOKI**

I was intrigued. The child was the same one that was reported sparing his niece twice. And also trying to cheerfully teach her something during the preliminaries.

Oh, there was no doubt he did so to fish for information, but nevertheless he had been somewhat kind in doing so.

I tuned out with practiced ease the endless ramblings of the Raikage's representative. _I don't have the patience to deal with children_.

And looking at the pained twitch of Hiruzen eyebrows, I knew that I wasn't the only one.

I wondered if poking fun at the extermination of the Uchiha clan, but then I left that train of thought. Hiruzen would have pointed out how not one of the Iwa genins had made it to the finals, no doubt.

And from the satisfying puff of his pipe, I knew that he knew it too.

Thinking about it, I didn't have the patience to deal with 'not Iwa people' in general.

At least the pillows on my seat kept my aching back quiet. I let my eyes take notice of the various Daimyō' delegations sitting in strategic positions among the crowd.

The final began, and I kept my eyes on the youngster from Konoha. I was naturally suspicious of any blond coming from that cursed place.

_Kake bunshin? That is Tobirama's __technique_.

I watched with a raised eyebrow the utter incompetence of the Kumo jinchuriki.

But the boy was not a genin, that was for sure. I tsked, not that I didn't the same, but Iwa's ringer didn't manage to pass the second stage.

I once again bit down a sarcastic comment towards Hiruzen. It would have started a discussion in which the Raikage aggravating representative would have rapped his way into. I didn't have the patience to deal with it.

_Healing himself without the use of his hands?_

I spied a look at Hiruzen's face. He hid it well, but I knew him too well to not notice his surprise.

_So he too doesn't know what he's capable of. Is he that Jiraya's apprentice? Is that why he suddenly went into the genins' balcony?_

His kawarimis only exacerbated the memory of that... _monster_ who the yondaime Hokage had been.

I gritted my teeth, Hiruzen knew it as well.

Then he called the suiton technique. I blinked.

"I noticed he doesn't have a surname." I pointed out when I saw the semisphere of water exploding outwards in a twisting motion, it looked almost like a cursed Rasengan.

Hiruzen's eyes met mine, barely containing a gleam of triumph.

* * *

_05 June - 8 years AK_

We went away from Iwa as quietly as the Hokage had appeared. We crossed the stone doors and started running, the Hokage and the Anbu group setting the pace.

From the direction we took, I believed we would be crossing Taki's borders before reaching Hi no Kuni.

I let the steady run led me into a lull, I had to take a soldier pill, but it was a comfortable pace.

I let my mind fade back to recent events.

Once I felt that the currents outside my safety whirpool were no longer lethal I let my Ashura form vanish and, riding the current and manipulating it so that it would bring me upwards, I had reached the surface.

When I climbed to the surface of the water, I stood on unsteady legs. That jutsu was bulshittingly chakra intensive, wonderful chakra control or not.

I amusedly took notice of the fact that the water stood at level with the second rows of spectators. The drains placed underground were likely working far beyond their capacity.

The crowd stood silent until the referee jumped into the arena, looking through the murky waters to be sure that the disappearance of her chakra matched the death of the kunoichi.

When he declared me the victor, the crowd roared its approval, my disgust climbing higher and higher with each second.

The following hours had been a flurry of events I really didn't keep track of, I only distinctly remembered stealing Shin's jug and tossing down a few gulps of sake. But only after some noble from the capital of Hi no Kuni offered me a place among the twelve fire guardians coming December, since Sarutobi Asuma was returning to Konoha.

I had been bewildered, but the man had explained that I would be trained by the others and that it was an open offer, I didn't have to answer immediately.

I didn't have the time to be surprised, since I had to deal with the congratulations of people I actively disliked, and I had to force myself to not assault Tsume, who _had thanked me_ for having avenged her daughter.

Like the dead cared about what happened to their murderers.

I had closed myself off, being respectful towards the Hokage and my 'sensei'. Thankfully, Jiraya had already left. I wasn't sure I could hold myself back against him. We picked up the Haimaru brothers from a training ground, where they had been howling their grief to the sunny afternoon.

I had less than six months to decide about the offer from the Daiymo's court. But the more I thought about it the more I liked it. The only thing I felt looking at Shin was grief, it was like looking at an incomplete puzzle. The missing piece was obvious.

And the further I stood from Guy, the better.

* * *

_12 September- 8 __AK_

I signed in my report on the successful D-rank I had just performed and pocketed the slip of paper with my authorized payment on it.

I left the tower with a skip in my step, it was half-past nine, and I had the rest of my day free.

I hopped to the bank, where I made a withdrawal and roamed for a while in the market district.

It was a good day. The air, while crossed by the occasional breeze, was still warm, and the sky had finally cleared up after the raining week we had just had.

I entered the shops of a couple of artisans, taking my orders away with me, and flickered over to the Uchiha's compound.

I went to my yurt on the Uchiha' grounds and dropped most of my stuff, before heading outside and walking over to the vegetable garden I had set up in June.

I paid rent to Sasuke in the form of tomatoes. That kid would kill for a tomato.

I had been unwelcome for the first weeks since my return, but the things obviously started to change when I dropped a tip here and there when I saw Sasuke training.

In July I had even accepted to spar with him, correcting his form. Not that there was much to correct, but hazing was awesome. There was simply something thrilling in making him feel stupid for throwing a kunai with his whole arm instead than with a twitch of the wrist.

My routine quickly became: D-rank in the morning, then free time until Sasuke returned to train.

Well, free time meant that I did my own training, I performed the less intensive ones directly on the dead clan grounds, but I booked a different training ground each week to experiment.

I had left alone my ninjutsu, I knew that after my display in Iwa I was more than likely kept under surveillance, and the less I used the Saku Kōzui, the better.

So I went back to refining my chakra control and kept up working with the gates.

That generally meant that I was always aching in a way or another.

The good news was that my chakra capacity was growing much faster than its natural maturation would have made me believe.

I had already accepted the offer of the Twelve Guardians. For several reasons.

First and foremost, I disliked being kept under constant watch. I had no proof it was happening, but I strongly suspected it.

Two, Might Guy had stopped actually teaching a couple of years before, and working side to side with the other eleven Jonins meant that I would be able to pick up things in one way or another.

Three, with the death of Hana, I had chosen to turn the world into a civilized place, and in the capital I would undoubtedly have more freedom of movement to do what I deemed necessary.

Four, I kept feeling Hana's absence, Shin had started running messages across the border and the Haimaru brothers were back on the Inuzuka compound, working with Tsume in the Tracking squads. And I knew, I knew it wasn't Guy's fault, but I blamed him nonetheless.

I unsealed the windows I had purchased and got to work.

If there is one thing ninjas can always be very good at, is working quickly.

In three hours, I had set up a greenhouse around the vegetable garden. It was 12meters on the long side and 10 on the short one. It had cost me around half of my savings, but my evil plan to transform Sasuke into a sane human needed it.

I went back to the yurt, smirking at the memory of Sasuke's indignant splutter when he noticed the thing I had built.

Well, I couldn't live in a tent for six months, could I?

Another big chunk of my money went into food supplies. But not common ones.

Three weeks before, a caravan had made its way into Konoha, carrying olive oil from the southern regions of Kiri, and more importantly wheat flour.

I had questioned the merchant but he had refused to tell me where he had purchased it. _Bastard_.

Still, I purchased fifty kilos of wheat flour and sealed it away. These people had no idea of the good foods one could produce with it. If I were free to do so, I would have followed the caravan once it left the village.

I had no idea wheat existed in that world.

I more or less lawfully had managed to get my hands on some brewer's yeast.

At least these people had cows.

I had purchased two young calves and butchered them earlier in the week.

I then sliced into small pieces the dried and cleaned stomachs of the young calves, before putting it into salt water together with some wine, to lower the PH of the solution. After several days, I had filtered the resulting solution. Finally, I had used the crude rennet that remained in the filtered solution to coagulate milk, at least I didn't have to milk a cow, I had been able to simply purchase it. About 1g of this solution coagulated up to 3 liters of milk. I had created cheese.

I had few kilograms of fresh cheese resting in my yurt, while I had sealed away all that risked going spoilt. Storage scrolls were just awesome that way. For the things you stuffed into them, time stopped moving.

It worked only with stuff that didn't have chakra. Yeast and organic matter of every kind likely contained senchakra, but for some reason it didn't interfere with the fuinjutsu. I really hoped that one of the guardians could show me the ropes in the capital.

And for those smart enough, yes, I was going to introduce pizza into a world of heathens.

I felt like I had downloaded the smurfs' village app and was building my way up from the ground.

The mind-blowing paradoxes of the narutoverse never ceased to surprise, they had milk, but not cheese, seriously what the fuck?

They knew enough to build X-ray machines, but _nobody_ ever played with nuclear energy?

They had warships, but not even one little plane?

Well, necessity was always the great inspiration, with chakra and its applications around I was bound to cross a few inconsistencies.

The cheese had been spread by the roman empire mostly because it could last long before going spoilt, but in a world where storage scrolls allowed to freeze food in time...

It even explained how we managed to eat fresh salt water fish every day.

The worldwide economy was still a mystery waiting to be unraveled.

Their world had clearly crossed a form of the industrial revolution, there were TVs, and if I remembered correctly even video meetings and movies.

Yet, from what I understood, each village had its own private network.

When I finished patting myself on the shoder and finished munching over how strange the world was, I went back into my yurt and unsealed the second custom made the order I made.

It was a stringless guitar (I didn't want the carpenter to be able to reproduce it whenever he wanted after all).

From my pocket, I extracted two music wires made of iron and two composed of steel.

The blacksmith had been skeptical when I had made my specifications, but he was specialized in ninja wire, and I had paid handsomely, so he respected my request.

The pain had been to strike a balance between increasing the tension of the wires (which required wire of greater tensile strength or a larger diameter) and achieving a good tone quality (which required a small string diameter). We worked together on it for the better part of a month, but we realized it.

I tied the strings in their rightful place and tried a couple of tabs.

The sound was smoother than I remembered.

Say what you want about the uncultured barbarians of the elemental nations, but the carpenter of the fire nations are worth their salt.

The elemental nations made use of flutes drums and shamisens, but they would be in for a revolution on every single front.

I sad thing I had realized far too late was that with his enhanced reflexes, a ninja had a _very_ easy time learning how to play the guitar.

Or at least, I had taken only a couple of hours to familiarize myself with the guitar and in less than a day I was able to perform the songs I had learned in my first life without too many issues.

Sometimes I went too fast, but correcting myself took little effort since I had control and awareness over my own body that simply would be impossible without chakra.

* * *

_28 November- 8years AK_

I perched myself on a tree in the Uchiha's compound, my ear easily picking up the source of the music. I watched into the window, finding him easily.

He had been smart, leaving a piece of cloth between the strings and the gut of the guitar, so that he had effectively lowered the volume.

But he was holding one of the only two guitars in the world, so it was difficult to miss.

Tricking Sasule into picking up playing the guitar had required a week of exasperation.

In the end, I promised him to spar once every week, _if_ he started playing the guitar.

I had shown him the ropes, and for his young body, the extreme speed and truly superhuman reflexes ninjas were equipped with were still a work in progress, so whatever he had learned he had earned through hard work.

It made him some good. Being a prodigy only at learning how to kill people would mess up the brain of anyone. It was good that he had a part of his life that wasn't dedicated to death.

Sure, he started playing only because he would earn himself a spar against me if he displayed sufficient improvement, but I took what I could.

The kid needed a shrink, not to be forced to work through his feelings with music.

Still I was almost pissing myself with laughter when I recognized 'Nothing else matters' by the Metallica.

He still had an easier time than any civilian kid, harsh training since one could walk would do that to anyone.

I kept myself hidden, and after a while the song was lost into a movement that Sasuke was creating on a whim.

I spotted a tear trailing down his cheek, and relief hit me like an avalanche. My absurd half-assed plan worked!

He wasn't repressing! Yahoo_!_ I left as quietly as I came, going back into my yurt, in a couple of days I would be leaving for the capital.


	14. Guardian

_01 December- 8 years AK_

The whole idea of Twelve Guardian Ninja (守護忍十二士, Shugonin Jūnishi) as an independent corp which took care of Land of Fire's daimyō safety was... intriguing. At least in my head.

Even more when one thought that said ninjas all came from a hidden village and could choose to stay as guardians for a not specified length of time.

And why didn't a Kage simply overthrow the ruling feudal lord? I had researched the topic with no success whatsoever.

For starters, no history book explained _why_ a daimyō existed. I went over everything I knew from the manga.

The daimyō (大名, who was the Feudal Lord) is the political leader of a country. A daimyō is responsible for all decisions concerning their country, form alliances to the annual budget to the privileges allowed to the country's hidden village. Daimyōs are therefore one of the single most important individuals in the entire country and hold the highest degree of political power, such that they are given special protection by the Allied Shinobi Forces during the Fourth Shinobi World War.

The final decision in the appointing of a new Kage for their nation's respective hidden village can rest within the daimyō's authority. In the case of Konohagakure, the Hokage typically selected their successor but if the Hokage dies or is otherwise incapacitated, this responsibility moves to the daimyō. The daimyō is advised by his committee, the Konoha Council, the Jōnin Commander and a representative of the Anbu during this selection. Once a candidate has been selected, the incumbent must then be agreeable to all the jōnin before they are sworn into office. For example, Danzō Shimura was selected as the Sixth Hokage Candidate when Tsunade was in a coma but died before the jōnin could convene and thus his position was never made official.

Daimyō frequently attended the final round matches of the Chūnin Exams, either to bet on the fights or to seek out up-and-coming talent. Shikamaru Hiden, daimyōs were noted to always reside in their country's capital city, constantly waited upon by numerous attendants and advisers who, themselves, tend to be overbearing and arrogant to the general population. Like any normal politician daimyōs tend to squabble between themselves. Because the daimyōs don't personally involve themselves in these wars, they never truly appreciate the horrors of battle and thus inevitably get into some other petty conflict at some future date.

Kisame Hoshigaki was condemned as a missing-nin in part because he was involved in killing a daimyō from another country, or his own? I didn't remember.

Despite a daimyō's importance for their respective country and hidden village, some of their political decisions may cause unrest and induce rebellion. When the daimyō of the Land of Wind outsourced many jobs to the less expensive Konohagakure while reducing funding for his own country's Sunagakure, he became very unpopular among the latter village, who even allied themselves with Orochimaruin an attempt to induce fear into the daimyō. Or at least it was something that was going to happen in the first storyline.

Before Hashirama, clans served the higher bidder, and nobody could outsource the Daymō. At the time, the official army of the countries was made of samurais, which were now only trained in Tetsu no Kuni, like a dying religion.

Honor did not keep you alive in a world of shinobis.

_Perhaps I should write 'The last samurai' if Jiraya managed to let his smut get read, I had a lot of actually enjoyable stories to share._ I distractedly considered.

And the Daymō was still the one calling the shots simply because a civilian would never accept to be ruled absolutely by something that wasn't human.

And whatever anybody could say, ninjas were not humans, not from a civilian point of view. Ninjas were creatures of nightmares, performing blood-curling acts in the middle of the night for _money_.

Shinobi existed for war, for destruction, there wasn't a single jutsu without a lethal application. Even I used chakra scalpels to kill.

The existence of D ranks was because of the need to show the civilians that if they purchased our services we would be trustworthy.

I strongly suspected that each business owner had to pay a 'tax for protection'.

So it made sense really, having a civilian calling the shots placed the ninjas into a position of servitude, and kept the population calm. Which farmer would properly attend his fields if he was too scared of being shoplifted in the night to properly rest?

And it didn't matter how benevolent the ruler if there was a ninja in the daymō seat, the people would feel like they were into some kind of slavery.

And it would be true. Slavery is the condition of having to work without proper remuneration or appreciation, and most of all, without a choice.

The choice of dying instead of working wasn't even on the table. After all, didn't ninja have their illusions to force people into submission? (We didn't, not on a large enough scale, but the civilians didn't know that).

I could understand the civilian point of view. With a Kage as a supreme ruler, it would have been like living in 'Injustice, Gods among Us'

_Another book I could write_.

I shook myself out of my reverie and took in the majesty that was the Capital of Hi no Kuni. I was to report at the Guardians' barracks at 06:00 pm, I still had several hours to roam around.

And roam around I did, shinobi style.

I masked my presence and simply ran around taking in sights, sounds and smells. The roofs are the highway of ninjas.

The capital had clearly developed as a castle town, where the local feudal lord resided in the centrally located castle, and his retainers, which once were the samurai, lived in the districts surrounding the castle. Even if it wasn't an actual European like castle, more like a conglomerate of extremely refined mansions and gardens developed on a hill. A cross between a grass field and a garden, there were several water canals filled with carps, and I noticed an abundance of weeping willows and sakura trees. Obviously in the middle of it rose the impressive palace.

Circling said hill there was a stone wall a couple of meters high. It wasn't a highly defensive structure, but in that world everything military-related was accomplished through chakra. I had no doubts that there were some powerful seals placed on the stone walls.

The districts in the immediate surroundings of the central hill were filled with mansions or elaborate residences with earthen walls and elegant homes.

Like in all societies built around the idea of social castes, the merchants lived in assigned city districts. Merchant districts were characterized by shop-lined streets and warehouses, while the canals of these areas were actually used to transport merchandise.

I couldn't miss the traditional geisha districts, characterized by the wooden tea houses, in which the geisha performed during banquets.

Like in every civilian city of vast dimensions, near the outer walls there was the 'red lights' district. It was easy to spot. The Akasen (赤線) was a conglomerate of districts where prostitution and the sex industry flourished along with the black market.

It was as far as possible from the respectable districts, and away from the eyes...

There was no escaping it, the bigger the economy, the vaster the black market. And why I did not doubt that such activities were too rough for the delicate sensibilities of the nobles, at least one of the Daimyō' advisers had his hands full organizing them, with the feudal lord's blessing, no less.

I sighed looking at the malnourished children roaming the streets, trying the occasional pickpocketing or 'helping' the drunks find their way home.

If there was one thing Hidden Villages took care of were orphaned or homeless children.

Sure, they ended up in orphanages with the heavy propaganda turning most of them into soldiers for the good of the village, but still. At least they had the possibility of failing at the academy. But at that point it was easier for them to find some kind of work. If nothing else helping merchants with their cargo. Often the caravans left with one more child on their carriages.

But why would anybody care? The merchants gained someone who would do the hard work for a low price, and Konoha no longer had to feed them.

When they got tired of working on caravans and became bandits or criminals of some kind it was only more missions for the hidden village. So, a win win situation.

I shook my head and rose from my perched position on one of the roofs in the Akasen, flickering back through the capital and announcing myself at the gate of the stone walls around the central hill.

I signed on a register and walked in, following the direction I had been given and soon found myself into a courtyard protected from the sight by thick edges and a tall wall.

The courtyard was as vast as a ricefield, while the barracks where a simple hangar-like building on the south side.

I walked over leaving open my first two gates and doing nothing to hide my presence.

A man left the building and walked until he stood less than two meters from me, squaring me down.

Well, not really, he had his eyes hidden behind a thick cloth. _A blind shinobi? Now I've seen it all._

Because there was no mistaking his presence, his chakra was saturating the very air around him, and I was willing to bet he could use it as a sonar of some kind.

The man was tall and broad-shouldered, with a black and white kimono opened on the front, letting the world see his scarred chest.

However, he had the waistcloth of the Twelve Guardians, so it was good enough for me.

"Hello, I'm Daiki from Konoha, I've been told to come here to join..."

"To be tested." The man interrupted me. "I'll test you if I deem you... adequate, you'll be trained for the next couple of months so that you can work with our tactics and we can come up with... adaptation to accommodate your style of fighting." He used a tone than managed to express just how unlikely it was the idea of me passing.

_I'm going to kick you so hard..._

* * *

_12 December- 9 years AK_

I landed with a heavy grunt on the snow-covered ground. Trying to find again the trail that I had lost. It was in moments like that that I missed my old team. I was as good at following trails as anyone, but there was no competing against the single-minded pursuit of prey following the Haimaru brothers and Hana.

I ignored the twinge of grief that came over with her name with consummated ease.

Ichika landed a few steps from me and looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

I shook my head and she sighed.

"If only you had an useful summoning contract..." She muttered.

I suppressed a blush. "Hey, cut me some slack yeah?"

She raised her hands in a mock surrender gesture. "Nobody else would have noticed it, but it would have been cooler if you had managed to take down the shinobi you spotted."

"Kunoichi." A voice interrupted.

I threw stealth out of the window and let the first two gates slam open, flooding my pathways with chakra.

I was already assaulting the stranger when Ichika's squealed: "Senpai!"

My fist hit an armguard, cracking it and sending its bearer stumbling back.

I connected the face I could barely recognize into the snowstorm to the title Ichika had given him and grimaced. I was about to apologize when I got slapped on the back of my head. I abruptly disrupted the flow of my chakra to break through the genjutsu she had layered on me.

I growled. It was really becoming a routine. "Stop hitting me woman!"

"Apologize!" She shouted right back.

"I was going to, you unsufferable..." I took a deep breath, focusing on the actually relevant things. "Sorry Asuma-senpai, but Ichika makes me jumpy."

"I do not!" she whined.

The light chuckle stopped us from going on with the endless bantering. "That is something I miss in Konoha."

I took a closer look at him, he was already a jounin, even if he was wearing anbu quality arm and shin guards, he already looked like he would in the manga.

"Kunoichi, you said?" I brought us back to the point of order. "I presume you were returning from a mission?"

I took a drag from his cigarette, the lung-poisoning instrument shining bright red in the darkness.

"Yeah, I was heading back to Konoha when the kunoichi almost literally fell on my lap. She didn't identify herself and lacked a headband, so I left her bound, gagged and unconscious three hundred meters further south." The jonin explained, and we started running in that direction.

"You're a godsend, sempai!" Ichika thanked him while I nodded my assent.

"The newbie had lost her you see." the kunoichi kept going.

_Ah, hazing, the best friend of the new guy_. Even a year after I first donned the Twelve guardians waistcloth. Even If I wore it around my shoulder, so it wasn't really a waist-cloth, it was more like a shoulder-cloth.

_And this kind of rambling is a sure sign I'm tire__d_ _as hell_.

Soon we had reached the prisoner, who was still out cold.

"She probably has a team, B-rank ninjas don't work alone out of their country." Asuma reasoned while I was running medical chakra through her swollen brain.

"Her strong point was hiding tracks, we've been lucky to push her in your direction, are you pressed for time or can you help?" I answered while the kunoichi started awakening.

"You do know that the protocol states this is Twelve Guardians business and as a Konohagakure shinobi I have to help unless under direct orders from the Hokage, yes?" The jonin answered lighting a cigarette and taking a deep drag.

"I thought it would have been more polite pretending to give you a choice, Ichika has been working with me on my people skills."

We shared a smirk while Ichika hit me again on the back of my head. I unraveled her genjutsu before it could take root into my system and ignored her to keep focusing on healing the prisoner.

"We've worked on everything, actually, your baffling stupidity when it comes to new ninjas in your life is just one of your most fun traits." She replied.

I sighed, Asuma had cracked her skull in multiple places, it would take a while.

"What's this I hear about a summoning contract that doesn't work?" Asuma joined the 'Make fun of the last to join the twelve guardians' club.

I knew that for the sake of something that resembled the storyline, Asuma should stay as far as possible from the shit going on, but he had already a thirty million ryo price on his head, and from what I could tell, it was well deserved.

I just hoped the situation wouldn't backfire spectacularly.


	15. Return

_05 march- 12 years AK_

I was standing in the Hokage's office, my arms crossed behind my back and feet kept at shoulder width.

The afternoon sunlight was crashing in the room through the open window, which let in the quiet rumble of the hidden village awake and working.

The Sandaime was going over the reports of my missions under the direct orders of the Daimyō slowly, probably finding patterns and reading more among the lines than what I would ever be able to do.

But what in particular stood out, was the paper with 'rejected' stamped in red over it.

"I must say, nobody failed their indoctrination in Anbu quite so spectacularly in a long time." He commented.

He puffed thoughtfully from his pipe, adjusting his hat while looking alternatively between me and the reports on his desk.

He reached a decision and nodded thoughtfully.

"Welcome back, Tokubetsu Jonin Daiki." He said.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." I bowed a bit, it felt necessary, before wearing the flat jacket over my armor, leaving it open. It had some interesting pockets, but I would keep the really important things on me.

I patted affectionately the big storage scroll that I had strapped to the base of my back.

The old man chuckled: "You still don't have a humble bone in your whole body, I had hoped that your stay with the Guardians would curb it out of you, or at least the casualty on your very first mission as a team leader. Or even your failure in Anbu."

His tone had become somber on his last two statements, and I was torn between bristling and flinching.

"I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do with you, your recent failure with Anbu baffled many." he continued.

I tilted my head questioningly.

A light frown marred the face of the ancient shinobi, and I took the reprimand it brought with it with a blank expression.

"In my defense, I had raised my doubts about joining Anbu, Hokage-sama." I jabbed.

"Yes." He was condescending now "You proved your point, congratulations."

The old man tried to make me feel like I was some kind of Nara flunking his exams so that he could keep lazing around.

He would have probably succeeded in it too if it was anyone but me.

"Are you going to keep taking only B ranked missions, Daiki-kun?" He tiredly asked me.

"They have the best risk-pay-time balance, Hokage-sama." I answered with a wide smile.

"You are one of the most aggravating shinobi I ever had under my command." He barked back.

"I took the freedom of signing you in for the jōnin tournament, it's mostly used to keep our jonins from going stir crazy between long missions. So also Anbus participate in it." He took a deep drag from his pipe.

"I wasn't aware anything of the sort existed..." I started before mentally slapping myself.

"Ah, jōnin only, of course. It's a very secret thing I suppose?" My brain finally started working, finding reasons for such a thing to exist.

"Nidaime-sama's idea?" I asked.

The eyebrows if the Sandaime climbed into his forehead.

I was acutely aware that he had mastered his own facial expressions, and that him showing me 'surprise' was actually an order meaning 'explain'.

I shrugged: "He's the one who came up with the chunin exams. The chunins know enough to be dangerous and showcase what their village has to offer, while the jōnin can sharpen each other and... mingle? I guess it could be nice bonding over new ways to hurt people." I let the sarcasm tinge my voice on my last statement. It was payment for the attempted guilt trip the Sandaime had tried to throw me in.

_Ah, it feels good no longer having to feel paranoid_. And since he was smoking, I took the freedom of doing the same, lighting up a cigarette with a flare of chakra and taking a drag. I circulated a thin layer of wind natured chakra in my lungs, keeping them protected from the nocive smoke, and exhaling, I laced my chakra with the smoke, shaping the kanji for 'fire' like I had seen the Hokage do years before.

I saw his eyes narrowing, a flash of pain behind them gone before it could be properly seen.

My smugness vanished, and I let the shape of the smoke vanish.

"I learned more with him in three days that I had in the previous year, Hokage-sama." I said, trying to make him hear the honest sadness that I felt.

And somehow I managed it.

"Shinobi endure." was the only reply I got, and he dismissed me with a gesture of a hand.

I turned to leave when Naruto of all people barged in, telling something to his Hokage-Jiji with an outside voice that almost made the windows tremble.

He was shouting some bullshit about a prank that he clearly did pull.

I watched him closely. He was the exact copy of the one Kishimoto would have drawn, complete of hideous orange jumpsuit. _Well, it does the job of keeping people from focusing on his face._

I sneaked a peek at the file-photo of the yondaime hanging on the wall and compared it to Naruto, the baby fat fas still keeping the high cheekbones hidden, while the chin clearly was an Uzumaki trait, but the nose was very similar, and there was just no mistaking either the eyes or the hair. However, any idiot would have recognized it if they didn't already dismiss him as the Kyuubi container. Or more in general as the village idiot.

_H__e sure fits the character._ I thought when he pointed his finger at me shouting something else.

I blinked. "Sorry, did you say something?" I drawled, the temptation had been just too good to pass.

He was left spluttering while I bowed lightly in the Hokage. "You are no longer dismissed Daiki-kun."

I resumed my stand by position, hands crossed behind my back, feet at shoulder width and slightly raised chin.

I waited patiently while he found a way to send Naruto ahead at the ramen stall and let my eyes move around the room, stopping an instant more than necessary on every well-disguised Anbu. It was hilarious pointing out in such a discrete way that their hiding spots were bullshit.

"The boy nature is an S-ranked secret." The Sandaime told me when the kid finally left.

He clearly was trying to steer clear from the topic of his parentage, probably for the benefit of the anbus in the room.

I nodded in silence, I wasn't going to touch that topic with a ten-foot pole.

And since I didn't want to kill Naruto, leaving him to grow as he did in the storyline was the best line of development. At least there he didn't become a psycho holding the Kyuubi's power, which was something less to be worried about.

* * *

I left the Hokage Tower and ran for a while on the roofs, crossing Konoha a couple of times to familiarize myself with the few differences from my memories. A new condominium here, a new park where stood an abandoned house on the outskirts of the village.

I landed without a sound on a wooden post in the Uchiha compound and took in the sight of the greenhouse. The glass was clean and there was a visible trail on the grass that went from the greenhouse to the pond. I liked that even in a world with sink Sasuke had chosen to keep caring for the vegetables with a bucket and muscles.

I hopped down and walked where I had kept up my yurt for the six months between the chuunin exams and my three years-long contract with the capital.

I stretched a bit and took unlatched from my shoulders my big, favorite, beautiful, self-made storage scroll and forced myself to work.

A couple of hours later I was finishing the last seal on the inside of my trusted yurt when I sensed Sasuke enter the Uchiha' grounds.

I left the yurt and felt the seals click into place when I closed the door. _Fuinjutsu is awesome._ I had switched my storage scroll with a slender one, I didn't have to carry my house with me after all.

I heard him walking down the gravel path that lead to his house and saw him freeze when he recognized the yurt, and after a brief second during which his eyes darted around me.

"You're back." he flatly said.

"You've grown," I answered with a smirk. I saw him blush and glance at the wooden post.

"Thank you for taking care of the greenhouse." I offered. His answer was nodding stiffly.

_Such an awkward kid._ I thought. But from what I could tell, he looked less broody than he was in the manga, even if the seriousness couldn't be wiped out of his character.

_I'll take an awkward emo angsty teen over the psycho every day of the week and twice on Sunday. _I shrugged in my mind.

"Since you are about to graduate" And I saw him perk up at my words, was he surprised that I kept track?

_Of course he is._ I mentally smacked myself. Hell, he was eight or nine when I left, and likely no adult had actually offered him any semblance of guidance.

"How about a spar? So you can check on my progress." I asked him, knowingly tweaking the last statement and making the kid falter in his steps.

"With the intent to kill, Sasuke, I promise I can take it." I added, before tossing a pebble in the air.

He nodded quickly and in the moment the pebble hit the ground, two shurikens came flying at me, a third shadowing the second, and Sasuke started running in a clockwise circle around me, hoping to force me to split my attention on two fronts.

It was actually quite clever. I simply dodged to my left, letting the shurikens come between me and him.

He sharply changed direction, coming straight at me, his hands blurring through three very famous seals: Boar, Horse, Tiger.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" He shouted, spitting a fireball at me.

I took a deep breath, lacing my saliva with chakra and spitting it at the incoming fire.

The mass of water that left my mouth easily put out the flames, drenching Sasuke in the process.

He didn't stop, and finally engaged me in taijutsu. He was fast for his age, as fast as I was after my first six months in team 10.

He opened with a sweeping kick, I stepped back, neatly avoiding it, he followed pushing himself up from the ground with a burst of chakra and keeping his momentum, a spinning kick directed towards my head.

I leaned back swiping at his leg and making him spin even faster.

He landed unsteadily after completing another couple of twirls on himself. I flicked his ear and when he rose sharply in my direction I flicked him again on the nose, before parring an enraged wide punch.

"Rage is useless." I stated calmly, slightly tapping his elbow to push another punch off course.

"You are not trained to control it, it makes you lose focus, you become predictable." I kept lecturing, walking in his guard and simply pushing him on the chest. He was already unbalanced, so he toppled over.

Seeing him moving to charge me again, with his teeth bared, I waited for him to get close to grab him in an unescapable hold, my right arm interlocked with both of his, and my weight keeping him pinned on the ground.

"Stop," I said when he tried to struggle.

"Calm down." I repeated, "Breath slowly. You can break out of this hold, but only if you use your head." I reprimanded him.

Ten seconds later, his breath had become even once again, and I could feel him testing different groups of muscles to find out which one he could actually move without.

After twenty seconds, he stopped holding our weight on his right leg and with a sharp tug of his left shoulder he had me slide over him, his arms immediately becoming free.

He was so surprised by the fact that he just stood there, looking at his hands.

I placed a hand on his shoulder and lightly shook him. "Rage is the weapon of the weak. And fear drives only those who do not think." I said with a Yoda worthy demeanor.

He looked at me with a startled expression on his face.

"Don't bottle away your emotions, and don't rely on their push to go on. Recognize them, understand where they come from, and work your way through them. When they become too much, breathe, and think." I said.

I was mostly making it up, but the point wasn't micromanaging his emotions for him, but trying to make him learn how to deal with them in his own. He was loads better than I thought he would be, but I couldn't spend too much time or effort on him, I had other things to deal with. It was cold, even ruthless, and I simply hoped it would be enough.

* * *

I had no idea where the jonin tournament was going to be held, so that evening I made my way into a pub where I had spotted several shinobi. Gathering information discretely wasn't fun, and overhearing other ninjas conversations wasn't exactly safe, but it couldn't be helped.

I only hoped to not encounter Shin. We really had nothing to talk about. We both realized it during the six months I had spent in Konoha after the chunin exams.

I has worked through my rage, so likely I wouldn't feel overwhelming hate towards Guy anymore, even if trusting him with anything not mission-related was off the table.

I wasn't hoping to hear exactly where to go, but at some point I would strike up a conversation and try to find out. There were always other methods, but the lack of details around the 'I've signed you up for a tournament that could not exist' meant that I was being tested. From my gathering info skills to my open combat ones, if the tournament actually existed.

If there was one thing that my economic ventures in the capital had granted me, it was a shitload of money. I eyeballed the Monopoly on one of the shelves in the left side of the room and gave a satisfied grunt in seeing a couple of chunins giving their all to win a nine-man' morris game while sipping their sake.

I purchased a warm cup of Honjozo-shu along with a pot of warm water. I had my personal blend of tea thank you very much. I sat at an empty table, distractedly checking for poisons. That kind of sake was made by adding brewer's alcohol and was not as potent as sake made without the addition of alcohol. This addition was responsible for giving the sake a light and smooth body and flavor. It also made the aroma of the drink distinct and easily identified.

I sipped it slowly, assigning a number to every other ninja in the pub.

When I had finished my cup, I carefully warmed up the water in the teapot with some fire natured chakra. It was nothing less than an advanced form of chakra control. The water must not boil but begin the evaporation process nonetheless.

"...Guy's little clone..." were some wonderful news to hear. It looked like he ended up with Rock Lee on his team.

"... Tsume's kid is in the class with the other clan heir..." I rolled my eyes, that was an old new.

I fished out from a breast pocket of my tokubetsu jonin jacket a paper bag of my favorite blend and let it fall into the teapot.

I kept overhearing snippets of stuff I lacked a context for, but I mostly confirmed that the timeline was roughly on track. _Good enough_.

When I deemed it ready, I poured myself some tea. I used the same cup I used for the sake, I didn't really care, worst-case scenario, my blend would have something wrong in it.

I was considering my next moves, staying in Konoha would have been the best until after the chunin exams, Orochimaru sure as hell should be kept away from the Sharingan, and many of the key players would converge to Konohagakure no Sato, if I were to believe to what I had managed to overhear in the Capital. I was deep in my thought when Mitarashi Anko, of all people, popped out of the blue on the empty seat in front of me.

_Kunoichi #5 _I associated my previous identification number to her face.

She was a fairly tall woman of a slender frame. She has light brown, pupil-less eyes. Her hair black with a blue tint in the manga was styled in a short, spiky, fanned-ponytail. Her infamous fitted mesh bodysuit covered her from her neck down to her thighs. Over this, she wore a tan overcoat with a purple in-seam and a pocket on each side, a dark orange mini-skirt, a dark blue belt, and pale grey shin guards. In addition to the forehead protector, she also wore a small pendant that looked like a snake fang.

I got why ninja tended to wear always the same combination of clothes, I did it too. During a fight one had to know where everything was stashed on one's own body. There was never the time to stop and think about where one had stashed the ninja wire, so everything had to be always the same. The same reasoning went for the colors a ninja wore. They heavily impacted one's ability to camouflage after all.

Still, her mesh bodysuit let me take a peek at the areolas of her nipples. And that rose every kind of alarm in my head.

"Well hello! I'm the sexy and single..."

"So." I interrupted her before she could get the ball rolling. "I don't think the Hokage issued the order to seduce me, he has figured me out enough that he can tell manipulations will backfire spectacularly."

She didn't blink or in anyway betray that she knew where I was coming from. But I frankly didn't care.

"You work for Ibiki, so either he is somehow spooked by me..." I tilted my head, letting my eyes take in her form shamelessly. She had leaned back on her chair.

"Or a disgruntled... Anbu with a recently broken nose asked for a favor hoping to get some dirt on me." I continued, finally figuring out the reason for her presence. Yugao had been the one in charge of my evaluation, and I had willingly broken her orders. And nose.

"Daiki-kun!" A most youthful voice exclaimed.

I smirked to the unreadable expression on Anko's face. "Embarrassing isn't it?" I sardonically asked before rising from my seat.

Guy hadn't changed. Not really, even if he did look more mature. He was 26 after all, even his youthfulness couldn't stop his growing up. But which were the chances that he wouldn't be running a C-rank on the day I came back? It did smell like a setup.

But maybe I was just paranoid.

"Guy-sensei." I replied with a smile. My relationship with him had remained civil after my chunin exams, even if understandably strained. But I had always known that it wasn't really anyone's fault. I doubted that I would ever again refer to him as sensei in the privacy of my thoughts, but alienating him would have meant losing a powerful ally.

"I heard that you got a taijutsu specialist. With a Hyuga and a kunoichi with a passion for every kind of weaponry." I started conversationally, abusing my knowledge of the future for all that it was worth. And it would also set up a precedent of me 'knowing stuff'.

I should have known that talking with Guy in a pub would have backfired spectacularly.

* * *

_The following day_

"I still don't know how I got roped into this." I muttered to myself.

The pebbles were embedding themselves into the palms of my hands and the sweat was rolling down my nose in thick drops, making me wish I could stop to scratch it.

I was running on my hands at Guy's side, it was our second lap around Konoha, and the sun hadn't completely left the horizon yet. I started missing the endless string of A ranked missions that my three years in the Capital had been.

We stopped to pick up Lee, and I fully realized how lucky I had been in not becoming a copy of Might Guy.

I avoided being hugged by an over-excited kid in green spandex who kept screaming "Senpai!" only thanks to hand standing. And once more I thanked Guy's crazy training regime.

* * *

_20 march- year 12 AK_

Turns out the Hokage monument kept hidden a _vast_ underground arena.

Which was all the more impressive if one thought that there was also a system of caves designated for emergency evacuation of Konohagakure's civilians.

I entered walking at the side of Guy, and we both pretended that I didn't follow him there because I didn't know the way.

"Ne, Guy-sensei, I haven't sparred in a while, is there a set of rules or something that would be... impolite, to do?"

The man shouted something about the joy he felt in having such a tactful student before answering me: "The tournament is more like a series of spars, Daiki-kun. So nothing that is immediately lethal unless you can stop it at any given moment."

I nodded thoughtfully, I would need to play it as a finesse fighter. It would be a good training, and to be perfectly honest, I had been getting restless during the last month. Not enough to take an A rank with a team, that would not happen if I had a saying of any kind.

"Oh fuck me." I groaned when I read the tournament' brackets. What were the odds that my first opponent would be Kakashi of all people?

I was about to ask Guy if the Hokage would be watching when I spotted the Man with the Hat in the gallery above the arena.

It was a circular, barren fighting pit with a twenty meters radius, with seals on the walls. At least it wouldn't fall on our heads. However the Hokage wanted to know what I was capable of, he could have asked.

_The end result will be the same_. I thought. I unlatched the scroll until I uncovered an empty storage seal, in which I dropped my weights and armor.

My dressing code had remained roughly the same during the last years. Sandals with dark cargo pants held on my calves by tightly wrapped bandages, a couple of pouches on my left tight. My grey-ish hoodied form-fitting shirt had long sleeves, my armguards were dyed of a dull black which helped to break the uniformity of my torso, along with the straps that held in place my big ass storage seal.

There were a lot of contestants, many that I had never seen before, and several that I had expected to see were not there.

_Likely on missions._ I reasoned. It was a pity, I had wanted to see what Kurenai or Gekko were capable of.

But eyeing the _absolute blank_ face of Yugao, I smiled and waved cheekily in her direction, doing my best impression of a lecherous grin.

I hopped down into the arena jumping lightly on my feet to get used to the absence of the weights.

I even zipped up my Tokubetsu Jonin jacket and sat down, waiting for Kakashi to arrive.

"Doesn't he surrender if he fails to be here on time?" I asked for the general amusement of the peanut gallery.

Kakashi chose that moment to lazily walk in the underground arena.

_Well at least he did me the courtesy of not reading his smut._ I considered raising from my position.

_This is going to hurt._

* * *

_15 July-__ 12 years AK_

I entered the Hokage's office without hiding my curiosity at being summoned, by an Anbu, no less.

In the room, there was not only the Hokage but also a very famous kunoichi.

Kurenai was a fair-skinned woman of slender build like many kunoichis were. She had long black untamed hair reaching her upper back and very unique eyes that are red in color, with an additional ring in them. They were enthralling, and I wondered if she had so.e kind of lenses on them. She wore make-up consisting of red lipstick and purple eye shadow. She wore a red mesh armor blouse with only the right sleeve visible. She was wrapped loosely in a broad material that resembled bandages with a pattern on it similar to those of rose thorns. Her hands and upper thighs were also wrapped in bandages and she wore the Konoha forehead protector and regular shinobi sandals. All in all, she was a knockout.

"Sorry, I'm late, there was this old lady, you see..." a familiar voice drawled behind me, introducing the entrance of Kakashi no Sharingan himself. _The lazy bastard_.

"It's of no consequence Kakashi-kun, since I convocated you three hours ago on purpose." The Sandaime replied merrily, waiving lazily his pipe through the smoke he had just exhaled.

Then I put together the presence of both Kakashi and Kurenai with mine. No, it couldn't be.

_Nonononono_... I started chanting.

"You are here because I'm giving you a genin team."

_Fuck you old man_.


	16. Sensei

_16 July- year 12 AK_

I was honestly nervous. I studied critically my reflection in the mirror one last time before leaving.

I was around 1,90meters tall, with a bulky build, thanks to the road Guy had set me on so many years before. My hair was still of a dirty blond, I had cut it short, choosing that the advantage of a moving braid was not worthy of the necessary hours or money spent in haircare. My eyes were still of a steely grey-blue, I remembered them being less... distant when I was a kid, but anyway, I had seen a lot in the meantime. My assessment of my facial bone structure had revealed itself true: I had high cheekbones and a square jaw. I trailed my hand on the smooth skin. Shaving was a must, since at nineteen my beard still grew too randomly to be kept.

I sighed. _I am not going to be any readier than this._

I left the yurt and flickered to the academy, where I spotted Kurenai waiting for her clue to enter.

We still had to exchange more than two words in a random meeting, and I had the idea that she was somehow avoiding me.

I shrugged. _Not my problem._

I was so distracted that I almost lost my name being made to my team.

I hopped in through the open window without a sound. I hadn't prepared any kind of speech, so improvising it was.

"Training ground 10, as fast as you can," I said, my tone didn't admit any kind of reply. "Now." I narrowed my eyes.

Shikamaru sighed but rose from his seat, while Ino was already dragging Choji toward the door. I nodded towards Iruka, winked at Sasuke, and vanished from their sight.

I watched over my future genins critically. All the over the top flaws already there. Ino tended 'to harpy' to get her way, Shikamaru lacked direction, and Choji hadn't actually realized what he was in for.

It took them fifteen minutes, mostly because of the fact that they walked in the wrong direction for five before Shikamaru bothered to suggest the right way.

_It looks like Ino can make them move when needed._

They reached the tree customary wooden posts in the center of the field. Ino whirled on herself, looking for me and berating Shikamaru at the same time, who had chosen to fall on the grass to cloud watch better. Choji was playing peace-maker offering some of his chips to _both_ of them.

I blinked, surprised. _To Ino too, uh? _She refused, screaming something about... _a diet? For real?_

They were kids, I got that, and if I had the four years Guy had with me, I was pretty sure I could force them in the hazy abyss between A and S class. Sadly, I had eight months.

_Shock treatment it is_. I sighed, hidden among the leaves of a tall poplar tree. I brought my hands together, one flat against the other, finger to finger, palm to palm, as if I was about to pray. _Sadly, children, you'll be the ones to pray._

I stilled, my chakra seeped through the distance that separated us, taking in a 'taste' of natural chakra, and dripped into their coils. Unseen, unfelt, I overlapped it to their senses, letting the environment do my work for me.

The grass they were on, the clouds Shikamaru was watching, the wind Ino was struggling against to keep her hair in her perfect ponytail, even the taste of Choji's chips. Everything that they were perceiving of the outside world was the foundation of my genjutsu. On that, I was going to build.

* * *

**INO**

* * *

I hated everything. I wasn't in the team with Sasuke-kun, Sakura-pig was. Instead, I ended up with a scary-looking sensei that sounded even scarier. There was Shikamaru of all people in my team! Shikamaru! _Gaaah__!_

I couldn't even think about how much I hated everything. Choji was in my team too. _Ugh._ Not exactly the best thing under the sun. _And he keeps trying to fatten me with that junk food._

Worst of all, there was this insistent breeze that turned into a proper wind and was messing with my look. _Aaaaargh!_

I sneezed all of a sudden and turned towards the two boys lazing around, searching for the origin of that... smell.

It wasn't a fart, thank Kami at least for that, but it was pungent and almost heavy at the same time. The disgust towards my teammates dimmed a bit while I brought my gaze back to the village.

"Is..." I stammered. "Is that smoke?"

* * *

**CHOJI**

* * *

I sat down on the grass and popped open another pack of chips. The sensei didn't look friendly, not like Kurenai-sensei at least. But it looked... fearsome. I nodded. It was a good word to describe him.

Shikamaru had yet to express his opinion, so I wasn't sure I was on the right track. But Ino was ranting pretty bad about the whole situation, so maybe I got that right.

I closed my eyes and focused on my chips. Sometimes I ate only one, slowly crushing it against my palate with my tongue. Sometimes I took a handful and filled my mouth to the brim. I alternated feeling strong and feeling full.

All in all, it wasn't a bad way to pass the time.

I was focusing on my food almost too much to hear Ino talking, but the expression on Shikamaru's face told me everything I needed to know.

* * *

**SHIKAMARU**

* * *

Since I can remember, I've always loved clouds. The white, aimlessly floating ones. The dark ones were always foreboding of something. And while I _knew_ that the only difference between the two kinds was the height of the cumulus above, I still had a preference.

When the teachers at the academy yelled at us to do something or lectured us about stuff that I had read out of boredom years before, the white clouds floated around uncaring.

I also liked the _sharpness_ that my thoughts assumed when I was playing shogi, especially against dad. Even if I never won, it will probably be years before I could manage to land an 'almost' win. And I knew that it wasn't about winning, but about playing a beautiful game, it could turn sharp, steady, broken, confused, but it still could be beautiful.

In all of the chaotic and honestly aggravating games I've been in, the clouds had kept their ways. _Hell, even when Kaa-san is mad they just don't care._

With all my supposed genius, I couldn't figure out a way to be just like that. Floating aimlessly without harming anyone, instead of sharing my sense of quiet happiness with all the ones who took their time to look at me.

If I could be bothered, I would have felt irked by the choice of our sensei. He was a slave driver, I could already tell. Besides, how does a ninja gets so bulky?

So I wasn't in the best of the moods when I had to force myself to correct Ino. Nor I did feel up to whatever he was going to push us through.

I just stared at the clouds for a while, slowly fading into the back of my mind, like a forgotten memory.

I barely felt the taste of Choji's chips when I took one, but it made him feel appreciated, and who was I to negate him the occasion to smile?

I kept my eyes half-lidded, barely distinguishing the clouds from the sky, but it was perfect exactly for that reason. It would also be beautiful being the sky, if not for the storms, those looked like a hassle...

I was deep into my mind when Ino's voice made me arise. It wasn't for her words, no, but why would Ino suddenly feel _dread?_

I rose from my seat, letting my mind break down what the kunoichi had just said.

But I didn't need the meaning my brain offered me to notice something was wrong. My eyes took in everything, from the crumbles on Choji, to the sheer 'not understanding' on Ino's face, to the wind that had taken another direction, almost pulling us towards the source of the problem.

_Konoha was burning._

"It comes... from the academy?" I asked.

* * *

**TEAM ****10**

* * *

The genin hastily rose from their positions and immediately started walking through the origin of the dense, black column of smoke.

There was something strange in the air everyone could tell. Ino started babbling two miles for second, while Choji kept munching handfuls of his chips. The crunching sound was almost soothing, it reminded me of not stressful moments we had shared before.

_There!_ Shikamaru thought. _I almost had it. It was... around sound! Sound? Lack of it!_

"There is too much silence." the Nara immediately said.

Choji scrunched his face and kept munching as fast as he could, while Ino's step faltered, her lips twitching downward in worry.

The group quickened their steps, soon running toward the origin of the smoke. They left the training ground behind and darted as fast as they could through Konoha. It was empty.

Absolutely and utterly empty.

The three genins were high on alert, slowing down, scared at the prospect of what they were about to find. Their feet on the ground and their breathing were the only sounds.

But the tense situation suddenly took a turn for the worse. Crossing the market district there were upturned stalls, fruit and vegetables smeared across the streets. Broken windows, chipped stone, cracked ground, but worst of all, splatters of blood.

"What..." Ino whispered.

"Not now!" Shikamaru hissed. "Ino, follow us staying hidden, Choji takes point, I got your back." The no-nonsense tone shut up Ino for good, while Choji was simply reassured to have his friend with him.

They turned a corner and reached the academy. Whichever plan Shikamaru had cooked up shattered and fell into nothing.

The smell hit them first. Violent, nauseating, almost toxic.

Choji remembered when he messed up at the barbeque and burnt the pork, but when his mind gave a sense to what he sight had provided, he bent over and violently puked. Shikamaru's face became pale, before assuming an unhealthy green shade.

The academy was burning, yes, but it wasn't the academy anymore. It was a pyre.

Countless bodies were into the fire, the skin melting, the eyes exploding for the heat, the bodies turning black. Shikamaru recognized a face, and he bent over to puke too.

A shriek froze the boys in their positions, they exchanged a meaningful look, their chins still dirty with vomit, and they shared a single thought: '_INO'_.

Choji _moved_, almost running over his friend in his haste. There was no time to think, and Shikamaru's mind drew a blank, following the Amikichi without hesitating.

They went back on the way they had come from and turned the corner, Shikamaru froze again.

Ino was pinned by an enemy shinobi against a wall, a hand slowly squeezing the life out of her.

The stranger was almost two meters tall, with broad shoulders and a manic grin on his otherwise forgettable features. His black hair was spiky and long, almost like a mane, while his forehead protector held the kanji for 'failure' on it.

Ino kept trying to punch the elbow of the man, who didn't budge.

Choji had stopped thinking a while ago he punched the man with all of his considerable enhanced strength. The hit did not land since the target had sidestepped it with ease.

The manic grin of the stranger turned into a mocking, patronizing smile while he kicked Choji in the gut _hard_, sending him barreling through already broken stalls.

The man left a wheezing Ino on the ground, and out of nowhere, he was in front of Shikamaru.

The Nara fell on his knees, no amount of planning, no sudden stroke of luck, scratch that, no _miracle _was able to save them.

He fell on his knees, already defeated, staring dumbly the face of the shinobi with the Kanji for failure on his hitai-ate. With an almost detached spark of curiosity, noticing the purple, rippled eyes of the man who was suddenly striking him down with a gleaming sword.

That's when everything went still. The smoke in the sky, the sword, the enemy, his own breath.

"Enough, I think." A voice sounded out of everywhere. Then the air itself _c__raked_, and with a sound of shattering glass, the genjutsu unraveled.

* * *

**DAIKI**

* * *

I quietly watched the genins, _my _genins, I corrected myself, while they slowly came to their senses. They were my genins, not yet my soldiers.

Half an hour. Half an hour on three different minds, even if untrained, of a genjutsu that perfectly manipulated their senses, letting their minds fill in the unavoidable blanks. It took all of my focus, but only a little amount of chakra, especially on such a little scale.

Ino started coughing desperately while grabbing at her throat, Choji was rolling over, his hands clenched over his stomach, and Shikamaru was just sitting there staring ahead aimlessly.

I quietly sat cross-legged on top of one of the wooden posts, giving them time to gather their bearings.

Fifteen minutes later I offered Ino a jug of water, which she took and drank greedily.

The first question was unexpected, as much as the one who asked it.

"Why does it still hurt?" the Akimichi had asked me.

_I wonder, does he ask it because his first priority is not feeling pain, or because he has realized it was already a genjutsu._

"The mind controls the body," I answered, trying to put kindness into my voice.

"Why?" Shikamaru asked, leaving his torpor.

I removed the jug from Ino's hands. "Slow down Ino. You don't need to drink, you're fine." I said, trying to info and steadiness into the hand that was holding her shoulder.

I turned my head towards the Nara: "For several reasons."

Ino managed to control her wheezing sobs and Choji had stopped clutching at his stomach. _Ready to listen, then._

"You've been assigned to team 10, with me as your sensei. My first task was to determine if you can be trained to become soldiers of Konohagakure no Sato, or needed to be sent back to the academy. The choices you made while in the genjutsu allowed me to assess you."

I didn't let a dramatic silence to settle or any of that bullshit. I disliked wasting time. "You passed, congratulations, now you're part of team 10." I droned on.

They didn't smile."That was a genjutsu!" Ino shouted. "How dare you!"

I arched an eyebrow, letting her understand that I was unimpressed.

Then I unleashed not killing intent, but a more refined expression of it. I bore my chakra to the edge of my coils, letting it rest heavily under the brim of my tenketsus. To their eyes, nothing changed, to their senses, now I resulted _heavier_.

"I am now your sensei." I reminded her coldly, and when she hastily nodded muttering an apology for lashing out I went on.

"First lesson. Your life belongs to you. Period. Not to your parents, not to your clan, not to your village, most certainly not to me." I was as serious as I could, and I saw them gulp and widen their eyes. I had their full attention.

"That means that the choices you make belong only to you. Your first choice, is to weather be a ninja or not."

They were all suddenly confused. _Didn't expect it did you?_

I sighed, they grew up in a family of ninjas, the possibility of _not_ being one never existed before in their minds.

"Every action has consequences. If you choose to be a civilian, you get to do whatever you like, and will never be allowed to leave the village because Konoha won't risk its bloodlines. You get to live a happy and likely longer life in which all the important choices are made for you by ninja. Either from your clan or from the village council."

Shikamaru was staring at me with narrowed eyes probably trying to understand if it was some kind of test or not. The other two were... bewildered.

"If you choose to be a ninja, you pay in blood. You'll eventually steal stuff, information, lives, and even dignity from the corpses. You'll probably die young in protecting the village, and nobody will remember why or how you died after a couple of generations tops. But if you manage to stay alive and become strong enough, at some point your voice will carry weight. If you become strong enough, you'll be listened to. And maybe you'll reach the level at which nothing could enforce other people's decisions upon you. If you want to be a civilian, you're free to go, no hard feelings."

I waited with my eyes closed for five minutes. I heard them shifting uncomfortably where they were sitting. And the rustling of their clothes informed me that they often looked at each other to reassure themselves. When I deemed enough time was passed I opened my eyes and saw that they were still sitting there. Staring at me with nothing but determination in their eyes.

I didn't let my expression betray anything. _We're still roughly on track. _I was even relieved.

"So be it." I rose from my seat and stared at them.

"We can go on in two different ways. One, the road of minimal effort. I'll have you do team-building exercises and light conditioning, waiting for you to pick up your parents' techniques and become another Ino-Shika-Cho trio." I let my tone explain for me what kind of waste I thought it would be.

"You will probably further their researches. Each of you has talent to spare, there's no denying it, you will eventually surpass your parents, of that, I am mostly sure."

It was some kind of backhanded praise, I knew that at least Shikamaru and Ino managed to tell that there was something fishy going on.

I raised a hand, anticipating their questions. "Or you can give me your best, and I'll do the same."

At their questioning glances, I elaborated: "I am a _scary __strong_ shinobi."

"If you choose to do your best, I'll train you. And for a while you will hate me. At some point, you'll feel like your bones are melting, your brains collapsing, your chakra coils burning, and your very souls will consider the idea of leaving your bodies. But I will hammer you in the direction that will ultimately lead you to be the best you can be."

I looked at them, clearly seeing that Shikamaru had already chosen the first option.

"Before you choose, a last warning. At some point, someone dear to your hearts will die." My words slammed on them like a tidal wave, effortlessly bringing them to the burning corpses I made them see with my genjutsu.

"Maybe it will be your teammate during a mission. Likely, it will be because someone _did not do enough_. A split-second faster and you could have saved your teammate. A single jutsu could have tweaked things just enough to make you survive, letting your friends being captured to undergo months of torture."

They were sweating _fear_, I could almost taste it in the air. "And I can promise you, that you'll believe the fault is yours."

Shikamaru didn't like it. "And with the second option we will be strong enough to protect everyone, _sensei_?"

It was hard to miss the sarcasm in his last word. "No." I simply answered "But you will be able to think that it was impossible to do anything more, for anyone. But I can't deny that being the strongest you can be, usually _does_ make a difference. Life will never be fair, I fear."

I rose from my position. "Think about it, tomorrow morning we'll meet here at 7:00 am, _sharp_. And you'll tell me your team's choice."

I left in a flicker and sat on one of the branches that gave a good position to look into the classroom where team 7 was still waiting for their sensei. I noticed that Sasuke's fingers were moving following a pattern: he was exercising some tabs. I was glad that I managed to help him help himself. It didn't matter the world, music was magic.

"So, will you wait another couple of hours to see who will crack first?" I asked the other shinobi hidden among the branches.

Kakashi hmmed instead of properly answering.

"If you are wondering, it's your smugness that gave your position away." I continued conversationally.

The smugness that he hadn't any right to display, in my opinion. Sure, he had won at the tournament, after a while, and after I had shown my proficiency in several fields, but he managed it only because I didn't do 'not lethal'. He had the experience necessary to turn every single one of his movements into a not lethal one, while I had to stop and think about it before actually doing it.

_Annoying bastard_. I thought.

"You do know that with Naruto and Sasuke on the team you'll be forced to sign them up for the chunin exams yes?" I asked.

When he didn't give any kind of answer I went on: "Iwa and Kumo will join too this year, and both will target Uzumaki. I did, in fact, kill Kumo's jinchuriki during my exams, and well... you know what problems Onoki will have with the kid."

_That_ last statement caused a reaction. Kakashi's head turned towards me and his eye narrowed.

I rolled my eyes: "Step up your game, Kakashi, or they'll get butchered. Maybe you should take up your rival' challenges for a spar more often, your conditioning went to shit."

And just like that I hopped down the tree and strolled through Konoha, hoping that my advice would be followed. Kakashi was born a genius, and after dropping out of Anbu he had let himself go. He was still fearsome, the sheer amount of experience he had, coupled with his intellect, made for a scary shinobi. But he could have been an actual S rank. I still didn't know if the Sharingan helped him or not. It had become a crutch in my opinion, but I couldn't micromanage the life of everyone.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I found myself at the east gate of Konoha' ninja cemetery. It was a vast place. But I didn't have anything better to do so I strolled in.

I had never gone to the cemetery before, Hana sure as hell wasn't in her dead body anymore.

I reached to the most recent line of tombs and started walking my way up. At least she had a proper resting place instead of only a name scribbled on the monument to the MIA ninjas.

I stopped when I read 'Sarutobi Asuma' His photo wasn't the same one of his file, he was smiling, with a lit cigarette in his mouth. The flowers had a couple of days, and it had been some time since someone burned some incense.

I was surprised by a sudden twinge of guilt. It was like Hana all over again. Another one dead before his time only because I had climbed my way into this world.

I sighed, staring at the tombstone with something akin to regret on my face.

I sat down, pulled out a couple of cigarettes and lit them both with a flare of fire natured chakra. I put one where a stick of incense should have been and took a deep breath, circulating wind natured chakra in a thin layer to protect my lungs from the nocive effects of the nicotine, at the same time lacing the smoke with my chakra.

And just how I saw the Sandaime do years before, I exhaled, shaping the smoke in the kanji for fire.

I really didn' t believe in talking with the dead, they either can't hear you, or I hoped they wouldn't care. Dying should free you from the worries of the living shouldn't it?

So I just sat there reminiscing in 'what ifs'.

"You know, I got your team." the words left my mouth on their own.

There weren't other news I felt I _had _to share. "You would have played shoji with Shikamaru and waited for them all to become a better copy of their parents. So I gave them a choice."

I smoked in silence for another minute, simply enjoying the silence, it had been a heavy day, decision-wise. I knew the kind of loyalty a team could develop for their sensei, but I also knew that true loyalty could be paid only with the same coin.

And I was kind of fine with it. It would be nice having someone carrying on my work in case of my death.

"It will be interesting to see if they choose my way over yours, and if they survive it, of course." I mused.

A disdainful sniff made me look at the presence I felt a few seconds before. I didn't consider her before because I wanted to leave whoever was around their privacy.

But it wasn't to be. It was Kurenai.

"Kurenai-san." I greeted her. And notice the way she was glaring at my cigarette, I rolled my eyes. "Asuma-sempai made me start smoking, you know. I'm actually honoring him."

That made her falter. It wasn't anything obvious, but for a fraction of a second, her chakra had tensed. That close to me she could have just as well been wearing a tag with her emotions written on it. "Were you with him when he died?" She asked, her eyes narrowing to slits.

I considered her question, tilting my head while taking in her posture. I had been back in the village for several months already, she waited that long to ask me?

"Nobody told you?" I blinked. I got it, for security reasons the less talk about any mission in which a Konoha nin dies the better, but still.

The answer was obvious, so I sighed.

"I was hunting a nuke-nin with another of the Twelve, we pushed our target into sempai' arms while he was coming back from a mission. We welcomed him on board." I started. The unreadable expression on Kurenai's face didn't change, nor she made any motion to ask for details.

_They had a daughter together didn't they? Another thing changed forever_. I thought.

"The enemy kunoichi had a team who set camp into an abandoned castle nearby, they were only two and didn't expect to be attacked. So we barged in."

Exhaling, I tied my chakra more deeply to the smoke, augmenting its mass, and I shaped the kanjis so that it would read: "_Souls do not die."_

"Turns out the castle was a giant summon, who had been eating people for the last, dunno, fifty years. Sempai burned out his chakra to break us out of the summon, but a fire jutsu interacted with some kind of airborne gas. If it was a messed up technique of one of the nuke nins or a characteristic of the summon is not clear. He manipulated the air even when he was running on an empty tank to keep us alive, smothering the fire." I recalled. "He saved us."

I rose from my seated position, my cigarette was finished anyway and resumed my way walking up the aisles. I had a few years of dead people to pass before finding my first teammate.

* * *

That evening found me sitting on the head of the Nidaime, taking in the sight. Konoha was a beautiful place, there was no doubt about it. I felt someone approaching and turned my head toward the Anbu.

"Hokage-sama calls." Turtle said.

I blinked, rising from my seat "And I answer." I sarcastically pointed out, flickering over to the Hokage Tower.

I made my way tho the top going as fast as it was considered polite. Shinobi going full tilt towards the head of a hidden village made people jumpy.

Entering the Hokage's office, I didn't bother to hide my surprise. Along with the Sandaime himself, waiting for me there were my genins' fathers.

_What is this, teacher-parents meeting? Jeez._

_"_You called for me, Hokage-sama?" I politely asked. Thankfully, Inoichi, Shikaku and Chouza were veterans, and as such were keeping a tight hold of their emotions, I really couldn't be bothered to deal with those too.

"I did, Daiki-kun." The old shinobi answered "There have been some... questions, regarding your teaching methods."

"Curious, since I haven't started teaching yet." I answered, not volunteering any information.

"You asked your genins if they wanted to be civilians, what kind of..." Inoichi started getting on my case but I rudely interrupted him. Causing several frowns, but eh, see if I care.

"I have no use for slaves." That, however, froze the room.

"You gave me a team tailored for someone too lazy to put in the effort." I continued, looking straight at the Hokage.

"I will not disgrace the title of sensei. If they choose to learn, I'll teach. That's it, if they _choose._" I glared at Inoichi, who clearly was the mother hen of the group.

"Ino is more concerned about her hair than the safety of her teammates, Choji doesn't think for himself, choosing to follow Shikamaru, who applies himself only if I trick him into it." I watched the other two fathers with a raised eyebrow. I had somewhat managed to keep my voice level, I was sincerely honest about what I was saying.

Oh, the Sandaime probably hoped to glean something on me by the reactions of the genins, and I had my own plans developing with them, but a teacher should be not only competent but driven.

And I would see if it was possible to teach those kids to _think._

"You promoted me after the tournament, so while the parents can squabble with you, Sandaime-sama, all they want, I fail to see why it concerns me." I pointed out. I was honestly confused by the whole parents needing to meet me in the presence of the Hokage.

I turned sharply toward an incensed Inoichi, thanks to all that was holy Choza looked thoughtful and Shikaku simply tired of it.

"They stopped being children when they donned the hitai ate, and if they will decide to, I'll accept them as my soldiers." I calmly went on.

I turned once more towards the Sandaime.

"The Wind Lord has been directing work at Konohagakure, Kumo is still sore for the jinchuriki I killed, Iwa has yet to show Onoki's grandaughter at the chunin exams and I heard rumors of a new Hidden village. The next chunin exams will be held here, and my team is made up of clan heirs. I'll be ordered to enter them, ready or not, and they will be a giant target unless I push them. Do I have your... permission... to do so, Hokage-sama?"

The old shinobi held my eyes for a long moment, looking for something I couldn't name, before nodding slowly, his gaze never leaving mine.

"You have it." he answered.


	17. Survival camp

_17 July- 12 years AK_

I let Kakashi be the one to begin the fight, I needed him to set the pace since I had no idea how to go around a non-lethal encounter. Sure, I knew submission holds, but when I had to capture someone I had no qualms about fracturing the spine and keeping the target alive with medical chakra until he spilled his guts.

That kind of tactic could not be applied in the circumstances I was in.

His swiping kick targeted my head, I had all the time to dodge, but knowing that he knew that too, I chose to do the opposite.

I stepped forward, my right hand clamping around his ankle and my left punch targeted his knee.

His hand came in simply jabbing my punch. A jolt ran through my forearm. _Raiton?_

His other kick caught me in the chest and thew me back.

I landed lightly on my feet and shook my left hand, trying to disperse the tingling. _Incorporating nature manipulation in taijutsu? _I wondered.

My surprise must have been obvious since the fucker had the gall to eye-smile at me.

It was something that I had never encountered before, and that I never thought about. It had several interesting applications.

I had thought we would go at taijutsu first, but it was clear that even in a spar, jonin meshed their techniques together, and the control he had exercised on it was... well perfect.

Trusting in his skill to survive, I spat a seal-less Teppodama at him and moved in a clockwise circle, pelting him with kunai.

He slashed at the incoming mass of water with a hand encased in lightning, disrupting the chakra that was holding it together, and for a single instant the arena was filled with the sound of one thousand chirping birds. He then proceeded to parry every kunai I threw at him with one of his own.

But I had not been idle, my water natured chakra took control of the mass of water and with nary a flick of my wrist, and a quarter of my current reserves, the mist encased the arena. I brought my hands in a famous cross-shaped seal whispering: "Kage bunshin no jutsu."

Without a sound or smoke, my clone appeared briefly at my side before jumping on the wall, cloaking himself into several layered camouflage techniques.

I moved silently into the mist, following the feedback the improved version of the 'line of water' was feeding me.

I cross blocked an axe kick and followed with a flurry of punches and countering his attempted holds, leaned back to avoid a punch that would have broken my nose and jabbed at his wrist. He violently disrupted the flow of his chakra, letting it out in a wave that dissipated the mist.

I jumped back, my hands blurring through hand seals.

I let my chakra free himself into his wind nature, shaping it with Boar, Monkey and Dragon. I pushed it aside, storing it in the tenketsu at the base of my throat, carefully keeping it from exploding and as such taking my neck away with it, before going through the following set of hand seals: Boar, Horse, Tiger.

I blew my Katon technique while letting go of my fūton one, molding them together, for Kakashi's benefit, I shouted: "Ninpō: Shiroi honō!"

(White blaze) and I let the wall of white-hot fire sweep the ground in front of me.

I felt Kakashi disappear from inside the mist a split second before my jutsu scorched the ground.

I turned on myself, staring pointedly at the ground. "Come on, I know you were going to hide underground, but making me wait is pointless."

I kicked sharply at the hand that tried to grab my ankle and stared blankly at Kakashi, who had climbed out of a hole in the ground.

His lone eye widened taking in the scorched ground we were standing on. I tilted my head with a smirk and shot forward.

He disrupted violently his own chakra flow, breaking a genjutsu my clone had placed him into and met my attack head-on.

We evenly exchanged a flurry of blows for several seconds, our speed mostly matched, then he made a mistake. Without any apparent reason he ducked like he had heard a kunai coming at him.

The merit of my clone's genjutsu, no doubt.

My knee shot up to hit his masked face, catching his crossed arms and breaking his guard. Before I could capitalize on the opening, he flickered on the other side of the arena, lifting his headband.

The Sharingan gleamed red, and even from that distance it was intimidating.

"I was wondering if you were going to give me the pink eye." I taunted.

He blinked, unraveling the genjutsus my clone was casting on him. One after another, with every single blink of his borrowed eye, they crumbled.

_Oh, this is bullshit._ I thought. _Goddamn plot armor. What the fuck were you thinking Kishimoto? That thing is way too overpowered._

I broke through the genjutsu he had cast on me before it could affect my balance and stopped looking him in the eye. _Bloody annoying._

I was about to envelop us in mist once again when I stopped. _How many friendly spars against a Sharingan will I have before I have to fight an enemy with a doujutsu? _I considered. And so, perhaps foolishly, I engaged Kakashi in hand to hand combat.

It was utter bullshit. He could see where, how and what I was doing _before _I actually did it. That was without even taking his Sharingan' genjutsus that he _blinked_ on me. Without the gates I couldn't go faster than him, so the confrontation quickly earned me bruised ribs and a cut on my forearm. _Son of a bitch._

I wasn't going to use any other combination technique, I didn't think he could copy those, but I wasn't going to risk it. I didn't even see it coming, he hit my head out of nowhere, and the world went black.

I awoke from my lucid dream with a start, my arms raising to parry a blow that wasn't coming. When I realized that I was safe in my yurt, I sighed.

"I need to come up with a way to face the Sharingan." I muttered to myself. And thinking about my options, I added: "Well, a not lethal way." I didn't want to kill Itachi or Shishui after all.

I was in a bad mood. Thinking about my shiny new genins, and the decision I pushed them into, I smiled. I could take it out on them. _But how?_

* * *

**TEAM 10**

* * *

At 6:30 am, Ino was surprised to hear her father calling for her, warning that she had someone waiting for her.

Her surprise could only rise further when she identified _who_ were the ones waiting for her.

Shikamaru and Choji (who was still rubbing his sleep-addled eyes) were looking at her with a strange look.

Ino blushed, she had risen from her sleep an hour before, beauty didn't come on its own after all, but seeing Shikamaru, of all people presenting himself ahead of schedule, was mind-blogging.

"Shikamaru? What are you doing here? Do you feel unwell?" She asked the last question teasingly, and by the tired sigh that escaped her lazy teammate' lips, it was clear that he didn't miss the joke.

"I didn't sleep." Came the blank answer.

_That_ awoke even Choji, who was now staring at his friend with wide eyes.

"Yesterday I thought about what choice ... _sensei_... wanted us to make."

And on those words, Ino gestured them both in the kitchen, where she offered them some breakfast. Looking at Shikamaru with an interested expression. She might not have particularly liked him, but she knew how to evaluate people, daddy had taught her that much, and with her talent for gossip, she could tell that he was about to say something huge.

"Daddy doesn't like him much." She said, hoping to gain a reaction from the aloof kid, who just nodded without revealing too much.

"Pops said that he owns the Pizzeria chain of restaurants." Choji butted in, eager to share what he had discovered.

When he became the object of two deadpan stares he shifted uncomfortably on his seat, but Shikamaru patted his shoulder calming him. "I traded a favor with my father to access his records, the public ones at least, I only know that he made chunin at fifteen without a scratch, then he went and became one of the Twelve Fire Guardians. Only for three years, but they are supposed to be among the best, so very skillful jonin. And he came back around the beginning of this year."

"Is that normal?" Choji asked, catching up on what Shikamaru was hinting at.

The Nara shook his head, and seeing the confused frown on Ino he chose to elaborate: "He technically was still a chunin once he came back, to be a jonin sensei one has to be a full jonin, meaning he went through _two_ promotions in less than six months."

Ino was impressed, grudgingly, but impressed. If he only was black haired with dark eyes... _No._ She shook her head. She would conquer Sasuke-kun! And that was it!

"I want to be strong." Choji said, bringing everyone back on topic.

Ino's hand instinctively went to her throat, her eyes widening in fear for a second, before nodding her assent.

"We all remember Failure." Shikamaru said. And the whole team shivered at the memory of the _monster_ inside of the genjutsu who single-handedly destroyed the academy, their friends, and the self-esteem of Ino, Shikamaru and Choji.

"Then there's nothing else to be said." the Nara drawled, and just like that, he fell asleep, with drool and snore, on her kitchen table.

When they reached the training ground 10 they saw their sensei performing a handstand on a pond. No, they weren't quite correct, he was balancing himself on the tips of his right-hand fingers, while a leaf was fluttering in a smooth pattern around his other hand.

When he saw them closing down on him their sensei sighed noticing that Shikamaru was being carried piggyback by Choji.

_Not the most encouraging of the beginnings._ Daiki thought.

"Have you made your decision?" he asked cutting the pleasantries.

Choji set down Shikamaru and shook him awake, he was immediately aware and his eyes zeroed in on their sensei, who didn't change his position.

"We'll give you our best." Ino said, and looking at his other two charges the sensei could see the determination in their expressions.

The genins were looking at their sensei when he suddenly was no longer on the pond. Without a blur, a twitch, or even a ripple on the water, the man disappeared only to reappear seated cross-legged on the top of a wooden post as he had always been there. He looked at them questioningly, nodding to himself after a while. Like he had found confirmation of some kind.

"Traditionally, on the first meeting, a sensei introduces himself, and the genins do the same. Name, hobbies, likes and dislikes, even dreams." He started.

"I will bother with it if you survive the next three months. No reason to waste time."

He hopped down the wooden post holding out a piece of paper for each of the genin.

They took it with raised eyebrows.

"Channel some chakra into it." Daiki-sensei ordered, fishing out a cigarette from somewhere on his person and lighting it up with a flare of fire natured chakra.

With skeptical looks the kids obeyed.

All three of their papers ignited and turned to ash. _We are truly in the land of fire._ The sensei thought.

With a passionate tone, the sensei started explaining: " Nature Transformation is an advanced form of chakra control that entails the molding and defining of the nature of one's chakra, altering its properties and characteristics for use in techniques. Nature transformation is one of two necessary components for creating or modifying a technique, the second component being shape transformation. While nature transformation changes the properties of the chakra, shape transformation changes the actual form and movement, altering its abilities."

Noticing that the genins were keeping their promise of giving him their best and were listening attentively, he kept going.

"There are five elemental chakra natures, which are the foundation of all elemental ninjutsu. They are so vital to the shinobi lifestyle that each of the Five Great Shinobi Countries is named after one of the five. And in each country the people usually share their chakra nature. Suna is famous for its wind users just as Konoha has a vast majority of fire natured ninja, as you three have just demonstrated."

He saw them perk up at that nugget of information.

"Each element is naturally weaker than and stronger than another: Fire (火, Hi) is strong against Wind but weak against Water. Wind(風, Kaze) is strong against Lightning but weak against Fire. Lightning(雷, Kaminari) is strong against Earth but weak against Wind. Earth(土, Tsuchi) is strong against Water but weak against Lightning. Water(水, Mizu) is strong against Fire but weak against Earth."

And when the sensei started talking about fire, the smoke he had exhaled assumed a 火 shape, before cycling through the other four.

"Basically, if an elemental technique is put against another elemental technique of the same level, but of a stronger nature, then the technique with the superior nature will prevail. However, a technique with a weaker nature can overpower a technique with a stronger nature if the former is of a higher level. For example, fire can overpower a water technique if it is first strengthened by a wind technique. A similar principle applies in how the technique of the same element interact, what is called counterbalancing. If two techniques of the same nature and the same level are used against each other, they will cancel each other out. But make no mistake, the skill of the ninja is the one that dictates the outcome of a clash between ninjutsu. If you three were to spit a fireball at me, I would blow it out as it was a candle."

He waited for objections of any kind, but surprisingly there were none.

_Maybe I scared them a little too much? _The sensei wondered. _Naaah._

"Every person's chakra has an affinity towards one of the five basic nature transformations. Affinity can at times be genetic, or at least common to a particular family. That paper you just channeled chakra into, is made from a special type of tree that is grown and fed with chakra. When this so-called Chakra Induction Paper is exposed to even the slightest hint of chakra, it reacts according to the chakra's latent element. Fire: the paper will ignite and turn to ash. Wind: the paper will split in two. Lightning: the paper will wrinkle. Earth: the paper will turn to dirt and crumble away. Water: the paper will become wet/damp. Shinobi have an easier time learning to create and control a chakra nature that matches their affinity, although even then it may take several years. Shinobi are not limited to the nature they have an affinity for, and it is in fact required for jōnin to have mastered their own nature and be at least proficient with another. Although Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Orochimaru of the Sannin, have been able to master all five, and I am on my way to do the same."

He waited for an instant for the surprised expressions of his students, no, his soldiers to subside before completing his explanation.

"Aside from the five elemental nature transformations, there are two natural transformations that are the source of all non-elemental techniques, Shadow Imitation Technique, in the same way as genjutsu and the Mind transfer Technique is a Yin manipulation, while the Multi-Size Technique instead, plays with Yang chakra. Medical ninjutsu works with both. There is Yin Release(陰遁, Inton), based on the imagination and spiritual energy of a shinobi, and Yang Release(陽遁, Yōton), based on the vitality and physical energy of a shinobi."

When the sensei saw that he had managed to capture their imagination and make his students dream of the things they would be able to do (even Shikamaru had looked honestly curious) he chose to shot them down: "Unfortunately, you are years too early to even get started on it. Since both your chakra capacity and chakra control are comparable to those of a particularly stupid flea."

Sadistically enjoying the dismay on their faces, Daiki-sensei clapped his hands loudly.

"Now." He said "For today, your aim, purpose, and dream, is to kill me." and while he said that, a half ram seal distorted his features until once more the three genins found themselves facing Failure.

The enemy shinobi opened with a kick to Shikamaru's face. The kid didn't have time to react and was hurled back.

"Shikamaru!" Choji shouted turning to look at his teammate.

"Don't let the enemy out of your sight." Failure said while kicking the Akimichi in the gut, making him wheeze on the ground.

"Tense your muscles before being hit." Failure said, his blank tone made more to freak out Ino than anything else.

The towering man slowly walked towards the last genin still standing: "There are two kinds of humans in the world, predator, and prey. So tell me, little kunoichi." And Failure leaned forward, his purple, unreal eyes making her feel little and insignificant, while his manic grin made her throat tighten. "Which are you?"

* * *

_The following day_

**DAIKI**

* * *

I looked at the kids under my care hiding the pity I was feeling, they were bruised and more than likely hurting everywhere, since the day before I had forced them to showcase everything they knew to get hurt a little less.

Every time Shikamaru looked for cover to come out with a plan, I engaged him, every time Ino tried her Mind Switching shit I grabbed one of her teammates and placed him on the trajectory of the jutsu before hitting him, and by proxy, her. When Choji tried his clan techniques I would sidestep his enlarged limb and slash at it with a kunai. The wound was negligible once the arm returned to his usual size, but I hoped that I got my point across.

I did so using only taijutsu, and moving at a snail pace, matching their speed. So in a sense, I too had showcased my skills. In hand to hand combat only, but still.

What would have been the point of running circles around them so fast that they couldn't see me? No, I demonstrated that moving at the right time and in the right way, one did not need outstanding physical skills.

I had pushed them, but they got in the way of each other most of the time, the problems were smoothed down somewhat by Shikamaru calling the shots, but he wasn't able to direct his teammates like puppets and do something else at the same time.

Teamwork was something that built itself with time, but there was some personality clash. Choji would sooner trust Shikamaru if he said that the sky was green than checking himself, Ino despised taking orders and actively disliked Choji, while Shikamaru tried to trick her into compliance, sure of the brilliance of his mind.

They were all stubborn to a fault in their own way. Choji had a loyalty which ran so deep that it left no space for self-confidence, Ino was all the latter and Shikamaru _knew_ that he was smarter and as such he tended to lead the other two with an almost patronizing attitude. He also clearly cared more about Choji than Ino, but they had been friends for a long time, so it was to be expected.

Which wasn't bad in itself, but being patronizing and seeing oneself as superior were two closely correlated things, and well, pride before the fall and all that. Each one of them had kept going, without uttering a single sound of protest, which was a good sign. Choji would never be a finesse fighter, his clan prevented that, while both Ino and Shikamaru clans were not built to be frontline fighters. _I'll have to change that._

This was why I had come up with survival training. Well, mostly it was something for them to do while I came out with a plan to properly train them.

I was sitting in front of the gates, going over the genjutsu I learned in the library the night before, it was brilliant, I had no idea why I had never thought of anything of the sort. It wasn't quite 'animal hypnosis' but I could tweak the senses of an animal enough to make it attack my target, making the animal I cast the genjutsu on seeing it as mouth-watering prey. However I knew that any jutsu was only as effective as the one that wielded it.

_I can already see the most interesting applications._

When my little genins arrived, on time for two days in a row, I tossed to each of them a backpack and forming a cross-shaped seal, I carefully molded my chakra, finding the balance necessary and withdrawing as much yin chakra from the lumps of chakra that were going to become bushings as I could.

A second later, three modified Kage bunshin popped into existence around me. Without warning, each of them grabbed a backpack and the respective genin, before flickering inside the training ground 44, also known as the Forest of Death.

* * *

**SHIKAMARU**

* * *

I crumbled on the ground thinking about my situation, I let my eyes trail over the endless, gloomy giant trunks disappearing under the moss, the canopy so thick that the sun barely reached the ground.

I opened my backpack with a defeated sigh. I knew _why _I had made that choice, the sharp reminder of Failure on the day before didn't allow me even to pretend to forget. But still, I came to understand why Daiki-sensei had warned us that we would want to die.

I made an inventory of what I had. A scroll that explained the tree walking technique, with a pencil made annotation that stated 'Usable on every kind of surface bar lava' Apparently it would build up both chakra control and reserves. Another scroll that explained an E ranked doton technique, a single paper bomb, a blank scroll, a brush, and some ink.

I noticed that on the back of the paper bomb a second note had been written with a pencil: If you need hand signs for your jutsus, you are not ready to use them in battle.

It was then that I realized that I _hated_ Daiki-sensei. And he had been right on that too.

* * *

**CHOJI**

* * *

Sensei had dropped me in a stream. A stream.

_Why did he need to be so mean?_

I opened my backpack to check on what I had to work with. A scroll that explained something called the tree walking exercise, and one with an E rank raiton technique. _Wasn't I fire natured?_ I wondered.

That was it. I looked better, looking for rations if any kind. The pack was empty. _What to do, what to do..._

My stomach _growled_. I was hungry.

"Shikamaru would know what I should do." I muttered to myself.

And I realized that Daiki-sensei had been right. I hated him.

* * *

**INO**

* * *

I had been walking for hours, and the only thing that remained constant was the unnatural silence.

We had spent several days in field trips into forests inside if Konoha for survival lessons, but the complete absence of birds chirping or animals moving in the underbrush made me feel like there was someone or _something _watching me.

I had no idea of what Daiki-sensei had hoped to accomplish, dropping _me_ in the middle of a forest without one lick of instruction.

Then I whirled on myself, staring unblinkingly in one direction, I narrowed my eyes, I could have sworn there had been something moving in the underbrush.

I rolled my eyes at the blatant attempt of sensei to scare me and sat down, opening the backpack and taking out the two scrolls it held within.

_Wait, only two scrolls? That's like... horrible. What was he thinking?_ I pocketed one scroll and started unraveling the other when a whistling noise made me _jump __away_. If there was one thing the academy had hammered them on was escaping springing traps or ambushes.

And I had moved not a moment too soon. Where my head was just a moment before, a _tiger_ had swept her paw.

I didn't think. I didn't even consider another option, I turned tail and started running. _The bloody tiger can have the other scroll, it's not like I need it._

And while I ducked under a low branch and a bush tore into my beautiful purple dress, my brain, otherwise overcome with sheer terror, managed to conjure a single thought.

_I hate you Daiki-sensei._


	18. Old teamwork, Birth of teamwork

_3 September__-__ year 12 AK_

* * *

**TEAM 10**

* * *

A pair of tigers was stalking their prey, prowling silently and slowly through the undergrowth. The forest was silent like it always was, but there was a scent in the air that had lead the two great predators in the clearing.

Or at least, there had been a scent, since it vanished once the tigers had entered the clearing.

Slowly the bigger of the two tigers closed in on the other, without looking directly at it. They were both staring and walking toward a particular patch of moss that looked out of place.

Suddenly, the bigger tiger pounced the smaller one, its maw finding the throat of the other with ease. The split second of surprise had been enough for the smaller tiger to lose its life, she trashed violently, its claws opening deep gnaws on the fur of the attacker.

Three minutes later, the bigger tiger trashed around the smaller one until the sharp crack of its neck breaking could be heard.

Dropping the carcass, the bigger tiger ignored the pain of the deep wounds and tiredly climbed the nearest tree, her claws finding a steady grip on the bark.

When it reached a height of roughly ten meters, it eyed the patch of moss that looked out of place, and jumped on it.

Ino violently broke her mind transfer technique and placed her hands over her ears, trying to dull the sounds of the tiger being skewered over her hidden trap.

She failed. The memory of biting the neck of the other tiger suddenly came up, and with it, bile rose from her stomach.

She forced it down. If she had managed to eat anything in the last two days, she probably would have puked it too.

Tiredly, she brought her hands into a ram seal and dispersed her camouflage technique.

Ino did not understand how it actually worked, but it felt almost like a Henge, only with a twist brought forward by two dragon hand seals in the technique. The only thing she knew was that the technique stayed active until either she ran out of chakra or she forcefully dispelled it.

And it ate away her reserves _very_ fast. But at least she could activate it and use another technique at the same time.

It took her a week to learn it. A week during which she found herself eating roots and berries that gave her a stomach-ache, she had thought to have poisoned herself, but she woke up in the morning feeling well, and after the pattern repeated itself with a few different berries, she stuck to the first ones, which no longer caused her any problem.

She left her hiding spot and set up a fire pit with the wood she had previously collected, before walking toward the smaller tiger and bringing out a kunai. She truly hated this part.

With a sigh, she started gutting the beast, but not before repeating to herself her mantra: "I hate you, Daiki-sensei."

* * *

Somewhere else in the forest Shikamaru was waiting patiently over a tree stump in the middle of a clearing. Only, the clearing was strange. There wasn't a single blade of grass, not a patch of moss, there wasn't even a pebble.

When the silence around him _changed_, he knew they were there. First, it was less than a flicker, a single streak of gray bolting through the undergrowth without making a sound.

After a while, he spotted others, and he recognized the deep _growl_ that signaled to the pack of wolves to surround him.

Once again, Shikamaru objected that there was no way wolves actually had hunting tactics that answered to the alpha's commands.

And yet, the pack of wolves surrounded his clearing, and closed in, sniffing cautiously at every single mound of dirt, wondering why there was so much that smelled of their prey's blood while said prey was just waiting for them to pounce.

Still, Shikamaru had led them through a merry chase for the past two days, and he had only wounded them, staying a few meters beyond their maws, enraging them enough to make them careless.

Once more, Shikamaru realized that he shouldn't think the wolves capable of such a ..._human_... thought pattern, but they were there, so he had all the evidence he needed.

They slowly crossed the barren ground, fourteen wolves, with colors that ranged from dark gray to brown streaked with black. And they stilled in a circle, closing his possible escape routes. The alpha came forward, he was recognizable because he was bigger than the others, which were already of the unreasonable size of ponies, and because he had a glistening wound on his nose, courtesy of Shikamaru.

When he was ready to pounce, Shikamaru brought his hands together in a ram seal: "Kai!" he flared his chakra violently before Molding it more familiarly: "Ninpō: Kagemane no Jutsu!"

And for a single second, he froze in place the pack of wolves.

Then the paper bombs he littered the clearing with went off, and he felt the shadows that collected him to the wolves vanished in a flash of light, while the barrage of explosions tore the pack of wolves to shreds.

Utterly spent, Shikamaru fell on his back on the large tree stump, breathing heavily to recover from the effort.

He had done a lot of thinking to be able to set up that trap with himself as bait.

Copying paper bombs with his blood, since the ink didn't survive his first numerous failed attempts, and placing them under the ground had been easy enough with the D-rank Doton: Fuanteina Jimen (Unsteady Ground), which simply let him seep his chakra into the ground to make it more malleable, had been easy enough.

Coming up with a way to hold still multiple targets, had been another kettle of fish.

He had to ponder about his family technique for a while. With the Kagemane no Jutsu, the user manipulated their shadow across a surface to merge it with a target or targets' shadow. The user could stretch their shadow however they wished to accomplish this goal, but they are limited by their shadow's surface area. But there were ways around that: the user's shadow can freely move within other shadows, extending its range; if Shikamaru knew how, he would have used flash bombs, either to briefly extend his own shadow or to extend his targets'. Once a user managed to merge their shadow with a target's, the target couldn't move on their own other than to talk. The only movements they can make are those that the user makes: if the user walks forward, the target walks forward; if the user raises their right hand, the target raises their right hand. The anatomical differences between himself and the wolves had forced him to think about _how_ it worked. Shikamaru knew that keeping a target restrained requires a great deal of chakra, making it difficult to maintain the Shadow Imitation for long periods.

But it wasn't exactly like that. Shikamaru could hold still a butterfly for hours, and managed it on his father without issues for several minutes. Sure, Shikaku didn't try to oppose it, but it still was a good indicator wasn't it? With a willing subject, he could only maintain it for five-minute intervals. The thought of using it on multiple targets had been laughable until he had reflected upon the _willing_ aspect of his target.

What impact did the will have on the technique? Then he had made a connection with the explanation of Daiki-sensei: the Shadow Imitation Technique, in the same way as genjutsu and the Mind transfer Technique is a Yin manipulation, while the Multi-Size Technique instead, plays with Yang chakra. Medical ninjutsu works with both. There is Yin Release(陰遁, Inton), based on the imagination and spiritual energy of a shinobi.

That had led him to ponder _what_ exactly spiritual energy was. And what had imagination had to do with it? Following that trail of thought, he wondered about Yang chakra was, since they defined each other as opposites.

Where Yin was imagination, Yang was vitality, where Yin was control, Yang was power, where Yin was the mind, Yang was the body.

That led him to the gamble that his trap had been. Holding multiple _human _targets would be a laughable idea. Even if it would be a lot easier with civilians than other ninjas. But wolves were not humans, they weren't even ninkens, with active chakra flowing through their pathways. Meaning that their body was undoubtedly weaker than one enforced with chakra, but more importantly, their Yin chakra would be nothing in comparison to his own. Which dreams did the predators have beyond the next meal, the next mating season? Which sens of identity did they actually have outside of their pack?

His patting on his own shoulder moment ended when the guts of the blown-up wolves landed on his face, breaking him out of his reverie.

He sighed tiredly: "I hate you, Daiki-sensei."

* * *

The forest was not silent. "Ninpō: Baika no Jutsu!"

The enlarged arm crashed down on the giant leech, splattering it against the trunk it was falling off from.

With an enraged yell, Choji whirled on himself, directing his family technique to enlarge his other arm to swipe away another one which tried to jump on his back. He was left painting while his body returned to his normal size.

He sat down heavily on the ground, panting and making a disgusted face at the grime on his arms, he was so tired that he simply drifted into sleep, he had been fighting the leeches for two days straight, and with his technique, he was exhausted.

He awoke because of his difficulties in breathing. When his sleep-addled eyes focused on the cause of his current problem, he groaned. A snake was constricting him, slowly cutting him out of breath. He no longer had the energies to perform the Baika no Jutsu, slowly, he brought his hands together under the ever-tightening coils of the reptile. He gritted his teeth, preparing himself for the pain. Dog, Boar, Ox, Hare: "Raiton: Shokku no Jutsu." He whispered with his last whisper of breath.

An electrical current painfully ran through his body, shocking the constrictor reptile into numbness. Choji climbed out of the loosening coils and with a scream he plunged a kunai in the reptile's head, finally allowing himself to freak out.

He kept screaming: "I hate you Daiki-sensei! Giant spiders! Giant leeches! What now?" He started laughing maniacally while he kept plunging his kunai in the carcass.

Not far, Daiki patted lovingly a bear on his head, the genjutsu working its magic on the mind of the giant predator, underlining how water-mouthing the kid running around could be.

* * *

_5 September__\- year 12 AK_

_e__vening_

* * *

**TWO OLD MEN**

* * *

The cane clicked loudly on the floor of the roof of the Hokage Tower with a regular rhythm that alerted the Hokage of the presence of its wielder.

Danzō Shimura appeared as a frail, old man, despite his age he had black, shaggy hair, and the right side of his face was covered in pristine white bandages. The x-shaped scar on his chin was still clearly visible, even if he gained it in his youth. He wore a white shirt, with a dark grey robe over the top of it covering from his feet, to just over his right shoulder.

The Sandaime flicked his wrist, dismissing his Anbu guard while he turned to face the other equally old shinobi.

"So," the Man with the Hat started, cutting the pleasantries "What do you think of him?"

Danzō reached the Hokage and looked with him over the village. "That he is dangerous." he flatly answered.

The other shinobi chuckled: "Every shinobi is dangerous, let's try another path: what do we know of him?"

"Nothing that would raise suspicion." Danzō answered, "He is always been either in Konoha or with Konoha jonins, until his service as one of the Twelve, of course."

"You don't trust him." smiled Hiruzen, knowing their running joke.

Danzō's lips twitched: "I don't trust anyone."

"But he owns the chain food 'pizzeria', the company which is producing all these uncommon table games, the one ever-growing in popularity which deals with those new musical instruments, and a publishing house." The bandaged man tonelessly reported, "To build one of them in three years is unheard of. But all four? _That_ puts me at... unease."

Sarutobi puffed on his pipe for a while. "So are you sure that they are all his?" He insisted.

"Under several different names, but yes, and I still don't know how, but he managed to get the Daimyo seal of approval for each of them, legally, only the Lord of Fire can issue an investigation on those companies." Danzō replied.

"I had a student once, who loved his secrets, as all shinobi do, who kept growing stronger as all great shinobi do." The Sandaime stated, uttering the name Orochimaru was unnecessary.

"I had another student, who kept growing stronger, and kept dreaming of a better world." he went on, referring to Jiraya.

Danzō scoffed: "Another pacifist."

"So you've noticed? The only constant in his behavior is his general dislike for violence, disgust for killing, and despise for every form of torture." Hiruzen questioned.

"A trick?" Danzō retorted.

"The company which builds and sells his musical instruments is called 'A kind of magic', the one which deals in table games is named 'The more the merrier.' While his publisher's house is 'The Publishing House of the Rising Sun' and this...Pizzeria Mamma Mia." The old shinobi struggled to properly utter the unfamiliar words, "Besides the last nonsense, the names he gave to the companies are consistent with his dislike for violence. He is a creator who despises destruction, and nevertheless is skilled at it. An artist with boundless creativity, I often wonder what kind of minds Inoichi would find if he were to look."

"Why not ordering it?" Danzō frowned heavily.

"Because when Kakashi proposed it to call him on his bluff he promised to kill himself before they could manage it. He said, and I quote 'I dislike killing. But I do it for the village. I dislike having to fight. But I do it for the village. I like being alive. But I put it at risk for the village. My life belongs to the Hokage, I accept it. I'll follow his orders, but my thoughts are mine'." Hiruzen gave Danzō a penetrating gaze, before adding: "And my favorite part: 'I am my mind, if someone but me is in it I'd rather die. How would I know after that if my thoughts are still mine? If I am still me?' what do you do of it?"

Danzō frowned some more: "Being paranoid at his age? Maybe he betrayed us then?" His mind shifted gears, clearly thinking how to _deal_ with the threat in the most lucrative way for Konoha.

"I think." The Hokage spoke with a tone that caught Danzō flat-footed, while the Kami no Shinobi's chakra stirred like a leviathan rising from the depths "That you do not wish to act without proof. Daiki-kun is a curious young shinobi, but he has done nothing to harm Konohagakure."

Danzō stared defiantly at his superior for a few seconds, testing how far his determination on the topic went, before nodding and taking a small step back, indicating that he backed down from his intention if _dealing_ with the dangerous shinobi on his own.

"I think he refused to let his mind be read at the time because of the true extent of his dislike of violence." Hiruzen quietly said, his chakra settling down like a storm being bottled in a jar.

"Why not ordering him to have his mind read now?" Danzō insisted.

"Because I don't think the consequences of me forcing the matter would in any way benefit Konoha." the Sandaime mysteriously answered.

"So why calling me here?" the bandaged man questioned.

"To think together, like we used to. Frankly, I needed someone informed to bounce my thoughts on." the Sandaime replied taking a deep drag from his pipe.

"Do you know how he advertised his musical instruments?" the Man with the Hat asked.

When Danzō remained quiet, he explained: "He took several children from the akasen under 6 years old under his wing as soon as he reached the capital, taught them how to access their chakra, then how to play his instruments. Thanks to the superior reflexes they picked it up quite fast, and started playing on the side of the streets asking for a few ryos of offering. Many have gladly done so."

"He trained shinobi loyal only to him? This is..."

"Not what happened." the Sandaime cut him off. "A few orphans with slightly better reflexes can at most pickpocket better the drunks in the akasen, but even then, I heard he broke and healed the fingers of every child he found out stealing. He taught only to the honest, or that is what Jiraya has reported."

He took a deep drag. "The kids playing made people notice the instruments, that all in all have been selling well. I believe he managed to make the Daymō see that the Capital of Hi no Kuni would become the cultural center of all the Elemental Nations. And seeing what kind of trade his companies have so far set up, I can't say he was wrong. That's another reason I have nothing that set him as someone who wishes harm to the village, he had made the Capital richer, and us by proxy."

Danzō pondered on what he had just heard: "I don't get why you called me here if you don't suspect him of betraying us. Unless you wanted to know if I had helped him? I didn't, you could simply have asked. I wouldn't help an endeavor that relies on the fickle passions of the masses, and most certainly not someone who I suspect is in any way subversive."

The Sandaime let out a deep laugh waving his pipe through the cloud of smoke that had left his mouth.

"You clearly have not read any of his books." the Man with The Hat pointed out.

The only visible eyebrow of the bandaged man climbed higher on his forehead: "Please tell me he didn't follow that fool Jiraya's embarrassing example."

After a chuckle the Hokage shook his head: "More than writing, I suspect he simply published stuff he had been writing for all his life, if nothing else for the sheer number of publications and difference in topics."

"I would have known if he was a published author... ah, another name?" Danzō said.

"Several others." the Hokage replied with a nod, I found recurring patterns in many of the books from the Publishing House of the Rising Sun, or at least, the cryptanalysis department did. I have read personally only a few of his works. I found his poetry... unusual, but incisive, if nothing else."

From his robes, he fished out a white book with a simple black title 'Words Beyond War' and offered it to the other man.

"On the last page the author introduces himself. The photo is no doubt a Henge, but his words are what explains the whole collection of poems." the Sandaime said.

Flicking through the book, Danzō saw that every few pages there was a new title, followed by a new poem, some were a line long, others lasted several pages. "The last paragraph of his self written introduction." The Hokage reminded him.

"...as a writer or an artist, even though I run no state and command no power, I am entitled to feel that I am my brother's keeper, and my brother is the whole of mankind. And this is the relevance to me of both peace and freedom. But out of this vast brotherhood, the nearest to me and dearest are the insulted and the humiliated, the homeless and the disinherited, the poor, the hungry and the sick at heart." Danzō read out loud.

He raised an eyebrow questioningly and looked at smirking Kage.

"You see why I do not think him a traitor? What he writes as... Ahmad Faiz... another strange name is almost radical, but clearly against war, and its a cluster of different styles, almost if he didn't know which to choose, or..."

"Or if he had many others working with him?" the bandaged man logically pointed out.

"I would have thought the same, but that book was published almost three years ago. Meaning that he had been in the Capital for less than a year, rallying together people, each of them using a new and different form of poetry? That's even less likely than Daiki being some kind of writing prodigy." the Hokage countered.

"He modified the Kage bunshin for his chunin exam, his file says that Hatake had shown it to him _once_, and he licked it up. Two months before the death of the jinchuriki, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities that he found a way to modify it in a way that reduced the impact of the memories in the six months that he spent doing almost exclusively D-ranks." His lone eye narrowed.

"It would explain how he managed to attend his duties as one of the Twelve and still have time for other things. It also says something about his actual chakra capacity, surely more than what we have been able to gleam by his spar with Kakashi. I had believed him to be talented and hungry for power, but without ambition, and a dislike for violence." The Hokage summed up "A lot of paradoxes for a shinobi not yet 20 years old."

"The first question that comes to mind is why setting up such trade if he was going to live in a yurt on the Uchiha grounds." Danzō pointed out.

"I believe he genuinely cares about Sasuke-kun." Hiruzen puffed on his pipe.

"Why would he? Itachi's reports didn't picture him as a bleeding heart." Danzō retorted.

"And yet, Daiki taught him how to play the... guitar.." the Sandaime once more wondered how he picked up such a strange name "when he had no idea it would work, and tasked him with the upkeeping of the greenhouse, giving him something in exchange of some extra training, but that simply became a responsibility when Daiki went to the Capital. And that made sure young Sasuke had other things to focus on instead of the death of his clan. Two little things, but I feel they have done a lot of good to the boy."

"Carpentry, music, cooking, writing, gardening, table games making, and the keen insight of an experienced merchant. An eclectic shinobi, that's for sure." Danzō summed up.

"Yes, it seems that his creativity bled over to the training regime he has set for his team, I had to beat back with a stick their concerned parents. His students have not left the training grounds since July. Alas, it's time for team 10 to attend its duties and perform its D-ranks." the Man with the Hat grinned evilly.

Danzō expression didn't give anything away, but if he were a less experienced shinobi, he would have cringed.

* * *

_16 September- year 12 AK_

**DAIKI**

* * *

I stalked my cute little genin from above. Ino had been unòucky enough to get her scroll on tree walking eaten by a tiger. Why a predator would choose to destroy a piece of paper instead of focusing on hunting the much more interesting living prey was something my student needn't to concern herself with. I smiled sadistically, maybe I was being a bit extreme, but I needed to knock Shikamaru down a peg or two, to make Choji believe in himself, and to force her to see her teammates at least as her equals.

That was why she was running from a bunch of beasts that I had cornered her against one of the may unclimbable walls that littered the area, no doubt leftovers from doton techniques. And like I had hoped, like a prince in shining armor, Choji barreled (literally) over the pack of wolves that had been chasing Ino over the last three days. Many of them jumped back and managed to avoid him, but he didn't expect to get them all, only to buy Ino enough time to gather her wits to start walking on the wall where the wolves couldn't reach her. Unluckily, she didn't know how.

Choji exited from his move and jumped on a trunk, his momentum denting the wood, but his feet glued him to the bark. He raised his head to look at his teammate, who was looking at him with an admiration that had immediately turned into a confused expression. Likely believing her simply too exhausted to copy him, Choji jumped from a tree to another and on the earth wall behind Ino, enlarging his arm and scooping her up from the ground.

I nodded to myself, he would be teaching her how to walk on trees, and I was free to go prod Shikamaru, I had been herding bears for the past week on that purpose.

The camouflage jutsu I had Ino learn was chakra intensive for a genin, that she immediately picked up that she was supposed to use it in conjunction with her family technique had been a welcome surprise. Anyway, the camouflage jutsu had more than likely shook awake her atrophied chakra coils, while entering the mind of an animal and mimicking its mannerism enough to not startle the other predators or giving up her game had been an alternative but nonetheless effective way to improve her control.

I reached the system of caves in which I had herded the bears, making them all fall asleep without attacking each other hadn't been a joke, but that gave me enough time to tinker with the animal conditioning genjutsu I had recently learned. It would unravel in a few days, but for a while, they would mostly behave like a pack of wolves. Paper bombs or not, the pack of bears would barrel over the traps Shikamaru had set up around his lair, while the leeches I had thrown over the branches of the area would wake soon.

_A week later_

I hopped from a branch to the other, following the wave of mouth-frothing enraged bears that was sweeping through the undergrowth. my kage bunshin dispelled, letting me know that my other two cute little genins were on their way. Shikamaru only had to survive for n hour or two. Then I thought again about the pace Ino was keeping with her newly learned tree walking skill and grimaced. _Well, Shikamaru is a genius, I'm sure he will find a way to survive for a day or two._


	19. A Shinobi Story

_30 September- 12 years AK_

**TEAM 10**

Three exhausted and worse for wear genin walked into the Hokage's large office, dragging their limbs towards the table where Iruka was sitting, ready to hand out missions the lower-ranked missions.

"Daiki-kun." the Sandaime spoke, his eyes running over the recently healed wounds on the young ninja' bodies. "What happened to your team?"

The smiling sensei tilted his head, painting an honestly confused expression on his face: "Whatever you mean, Hokage-sama? You reminded me that they had to start contributing to the village's welfare with D-ranks, and here we are, even if I had to cut their trial period shorter than I would have liked." He turned his head toward his students, who were almost too tired to whimper. Almost.

The Hokage recognized a lost cause when he saw one, so he nodded slowly, holding back laugh when he saw that both the Nara and the Yamanaka had fallen asleep, their third teammate mounting guard. He nodded slowly, recognizing the effectiveness of Daiki's training method, and almost losing it when he recognized the dismay on Iruka's face.

"Well a D-rank for team 10 please, Iruka-san. Oh, and since my cute little genins forgot to make themselves presentable, team 10 might as well tackle garbage cleaning or manure loading." Daiki said with a cheery tone.

* * *

_07 November-12 years AK_

**DAIKI**

After a week of two D-ranks every day, I had determined they had suffered enough that there would never be complaints of the whiny kind through the months I had left to teach them. However, the survival training I pushed them through forced them to familiarize with the Forest of Death in preparation of the chunin exams, to think about how to adapt what they knew to several different situations, to rely on each other, and to realize that the more they knew or were capable to do the less likely they were to die.

I had left them a day to gather their bearing, even going so far as to allow them to return to their homes. It was more to keep their parents off the Sandaime's back than anything else, but I wouldn't deny them the comfort of their families.

During the previous week, I let them set up camp on training ground 10, and for the first three days, they only got the most disgusting tasks, since there wasn't time for them to do their two D-ranks, eat, sleep, spar with me and _also _properly wash themselves. If the teppodamas that had hit them were any weaker, I suspect they would have jumped into them to clean themselves from the grime and dirt.

When my cute three genins made their way to the training ground 11 were understandably wary of their surroundings, and each of them had a small backpack, likely filled with all the necessary for another three months of survival. _How cute._

I was sitting cross-legged on one of the larger ponds and waited for them to reach me. The water around Choji's feet wobbled way more than I liked, but I couldn't fault them since my only explanation had been a scribbled note on the back of a paper bomb.

They were looking at me with almost dead eyes, but nobody ever voiced out loud that they wanted to give up. Or at least, never with me. With each other? More than likely, but that was only another sign of their teamwork, so I was happy enough.

"Relax, the three months trial period is over." I started, "You are still alive, so we can do the presentation thing. I'll go first. My name is Daiki, I like to understand the workings of chakra, my team, and teaching. I dislike sadists and wasting time. My hobbies are playing music, eating stuff at the Pizzeria, and poetry. My dream... is that in this world wouldn't be necessary for children to be taught to kill."

Looking to Choji, I gestured him to start: "My name Akimichi Choji... I like my team and Yakiniku BBQ... I dislike _leeches _and the training ground 44_." _His expression turning serious. "I... don't have time for a hobby, and... I don't know my dream I guess."

I nodded with a smile and turned towards Ino, who didn't wait and went ahead: "My name is Yamanaka Ino, I like my team too, and my clan flower shop. I dislike D-ranks and tigers that eat scrolls." Here her two teammates exchanged a confused glance but wisely chose not to ask.

"My hobbies... _were_..." She shot a venomous look at me.

Then she stopped, likely thinking about the hobbies she had before my hellish training and realizing how abysmally stupid painting nails and seducing Sasuke sounded.

"Well, as Choji said, it's not like we have time for hobbies. And well... I'll find a better dream too."

_Curious how hunger, pain and all-around helplessness make one realize what his priorities should actually be. _I thought with a grin.

"My name is Shikamaru Nara... I like my team." He started with a roll of his eyes. "I like not to be about to die, being able to sleep without being awakened by sudden threats to my life, and shōgi. I dislike that I now feel restless when I try to do some sane cloud watching... and so I am without a hobby... My dream... is to live a long and happy life, and that my children could do the same."

I rose from my seat, clapping my hands happily, "I am happy of how you are growing so far. Since I don't have a couple of years to teach you a proper taijutsu style, we'll be doing a lot of sparring. You three versus me, or two of you against your third teammate, and a battle royale with you three. That will teach all that you're able to pick up."

I had dedicated a lot of thought to how to make them strong, and the experience was the best alternative to what I had endured with Guy's tutelage. Before I actually got them started on ninjutsu, I had to work so e more on their chakra reserves and control.

I started skating around them on the water, my chakra control so refined that I still didn't cause the barest ripple: "Walking on water is used to gain better chakra control. To do this, the user has to be emitting a constant stream of chakra from the bottom of their feet and using the repellent force to walk across the water's surface. This technique is more difficult to master than three Climbing Practice, because the amount of chakra that needs to be emitted changes constanttly. If you mold it skillfully enough, like I am doing now, you'll skate, basically moving faster." I reached the end of the pond and started skating towards them.

"However you can 'explode' a certain amount of chakra to suddenly change direction." I told them and Ino brought her hands forward in the moment she understood what I was saying. When I was less than fifty centimeters from them, I turned sharply on my right, dousing them with a small waterfall.

"The sooner you understand it, the sooner you get your sweet revenge."

While Choji kept focusing on making his steps steadier, the other two started to experiment.

Ino was the most reckless of the two, and managed to fall underwater, having to climb back on. And, as noted by Jiraiya, the more one trains this technique the more they reach a state where they stand on water without even noticing it or basically even trying.

I kept teaching: "It doesn't have to just be at the feet. A user under water can focus chakra on their hands or any other body part that makes contact with the surface of the water. If they were submerged, they can climb atop the water as if they were climbing out of a pool."

I reached behind Shikamaru and swept his legs away from under him. He fell on his side and went halfway underwater before managing to climb out.

"Find a high tree and tie your team backpacks there Ino." I ordered when I spotted her blowing me a raspberry. _It's nice that she manages to have fun when it's possible._

When she was back I made them leave the pond and placed myself in front of them. "From today, team 10 will be taking three D-ranks every week, in the mornings, there will be a break for lunch in the village proper, then I'll be waiting you here, where I'll _train _you. You'll go home for dinner and come back here at 09:00 pm, don't worry, only on the D-rank day. The following night you'll sleep in your homes and we'll meet at the Hokage Tower at 07:00 am the following morning. I'll leave you _one_... free day a week. During which you'll learn whatever your family deems you ready to master."

I watched them waiting for questions, but luckily, they had picked up quickly how to retain information suddenly relied.

_Well, since I warned them of the holes in their defenses only once before hitting it's not surprising._

After they had nodded I kept going: "And I want each of you to find a hobby, something that you can do with little or no equipment, you could do between a battle and the next."

Everyone was still surprised by the _generous_ amount of human rights in their schedule, so the news of a hobby hit them even harder. The first to ask was Choji: "...just... a hobby? Why sensei?"

I sighed and sat down gesturing for them to do the same: "What do you know about the sannin?"

They looked even more confused by the non sequitur, but after a brief moment Ino took the lead: "They were Hokage-sama's team, Jiraya-sama can summon toads and taught to the yondaime, Tsunade-sama is the best med nin to ever walk the Elemental Nations as well as the strongest woman in the world and..."

"Orochimaru has signed the snake contract and betrayed Konoha." Shikamaru closed the answer, clearly having picked up by his parents how much the topic was disliked.

I rolled my eyes: "Vague but correct, remind me to get you a bingo book from Kumo or Iwa, they tend to be the more finicky about the details."

I lit a cigarette and started playing with the smoke, trying to find a way to explain what I had in mind.

"Jiraya is the best seller author of the Icha Icha series." I said.

Noticing their confused expressions, I chose my favorite tactic when dealing with a delicate conversation: barreling through.

"It's smut. You know about sex don't you? Please tell me I don't have to explain to three pre-teens how penises and vaginas work..." I enjoyed immensely their turning redder than the Hokage's Hat and stammering out a _plead_ 'to not explain'.

"Ok," I resumed "Smut, or erotica, is a text that describes in detail a sexual intercourse..."

Seeing them keeping up with the red, I nodded, they got the idea.

"And Jiraya's hobby is to spy on women. From what I heard he favors onsens."

"_What!"_ Ino was conflicted between being scandalized and being incensed. I could understand her, I truly did, but I couldn't be bothered to deal with her indignation, so I snapped my fingers twice to get their attention once more before Ino could go on a rampage.

"Tsunade instead is an alcoholic and a gambler, she is so bad at the latter that she is also known as the Legendary Sucker." I continued, seeing them widen their eyes.

"Now they may very well be vices, but I promise you, they started as hobbies." I continued before their minds imploded under the weight of the new information.

"Do you know who never had a hobby?" I asked, and I saw Shikamaru coming to the conclusion I was leading them to.

"Orochimaru." And that froze them "Food for thought."

* * *

_07 December- 12 years AK_

**TEAM 10**

The sizzling was their only warning.

'**boom**'

The hillside went up in flames, forcing the three genins to run away.

"C'mon motherfuckers!" they could hear their sensei maniacal shouts.

"When did he have the time to litter paper bombs everywhere?" Ino shouted over the chaos.

Neither of her teammates answered since it was a pointless question.

**boom** The treeline they were dashing towards went up in a wall of a white-hot fire, they could feel the air tugging them toward the flames that created a vacuum since they had burned so suddenly.

"If I see one of you blush again or falter because he or she hears cursing during a fight, I'll shove his or her head so far up the arse of a horse that you'll slam your head against his fucking teeth!" Their sensei voice could be heard thundering over the training ground 32.

"If you maggots survive today's training ... you will no longer blush or embarrass me or Konoha because a curse offends your delicate pampered ears!" he continued, fireballs and lightning herding his genins towards the next trap.

"You said that he had turned a new leaf!" Ino accused Choji.

Shikamaru was acutely aware that crossing a booby-trapped training ground while being chased by a vastly superior shinobi was, while not exactly safe, and effective kind of training. He even recognized that it forced them to somehow keep their heads level in the middle of the chaos.

It didn't matter though, because Ino would always whine, and never to their sensei. The contrast was too much, and Shikamaru snorted. _Poor Choji, it's your turn today._

Somehow, Daiki-sensei heard his snort: "What's the fucking matter, do you find funny, while you were trying to discern whether I was being serious or not your teammate got a spike through his ass!"

Shikamaru eyes glanced at the shrapnel embedded into Choji's tight, just before having the back of his head smacked. He kept running, knowing that looking for their sensei would be pointless, and only distracting him from spotting tripwire. _There!_ He saw it almost too late, but he quickly molded his chakra: "Ninpō: Kagemane no Jutsu!"

His shadow reached the ones of his teammates and made them copy his jump over the tripwire. Both Ino and Choji had learned to smother their natural reaction of shrugging off their teammate's control.

"Maybe one day you'll find it in yourself to not be a complete disgrace and cross this training ground without triggering traps any five years old could spot!" Their sensei's voice was a battering ram over their heads, and as one, the three genins disrupted their chakra flow breaking the genjutsu he tried to place on them.

"But until that day you are pukes! You're the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even human fucking beings! You are nothing but unorganized parasitic pieces of amphibian shit! And you'll better learn how to trash-talk after today! Because I'm fucking tired of coming up with new clever insults to you and your families!"

Then they saw it, a white cloth signaling the end of their course. They passed it squeezing every ounce of energy they had left and didn't stop running.

"I'll see you tomorrow at the Hokage Tower!" Their sensei's voice had lost all of its bites and turned back into his usual cheerful one.

Still, they kept running, since the time that they had stopped their sensei had kept them training until four am because they had shown such a 'youthful spirit' by choosing to remain on the training grounds.

* * *

_15 January - year 13 AK_

**DAIKI**

I flickered over a wooden post, looking critically at Sasuke's performing his clan kata. I couldn't know how it would work with an active Sharingan, but it didn't seem like much.

"You're angry." I accused him.

He turned towards me with a kunai in his hand, I had startled him.

_Decent reaction speed for a chunin_. I evaluated.

"It's you." he accused me with a more relaxed voice, lowering his guard.

I raised an eyebrow at his obvious statement. He just shrugged.

_Wow, non-verbal communication at his finest. _I sarcastically thought.

"What's eating you?" I offered.

The angsty pre-teen threw his kunai, with a precise flick of his wrist, I noted, against a target, bullseye.

"What's eating me! What's eating me? What'sating me is that instead of training, I waste my time chasing around cats, walking dogs and painting fences! What's eating me is having to be on time when my sensei arrives two hours late! ..."

I tuned out his ranting and let him shout himself hoarse, at least he wasn't bottling everything inside, and I didn't have to force him to talk about his feelings. Those were two good things. Even if I was less than at ease with what his opening up to me implied.

"Do you know why teams are made with three genins?" I asked him when he was done.

He looked at me tiredly while he went to recover the kunais embedded in the targets around him. _I'll take that as a no._

"No genin is competent in each field. Usually, a genin specializes in close combat, one in support, and the third plays the middle role. In this way, they can cover each other weaknesses. In your team, for example, the Haruno would end up as support, the Uzumaki as ninjutsu specialist, so a long-range fighter, and you with close combat." I explained.

"But our sensei doesn't teach us anything!" He shouted.

"I can hear you just fine, Sasuke, do not yell. Calm yourself, breath. I won't talk with who is unwilling to listen." I chided him.

Surprisingly, or maybe not, he followed my request and calmed down, even if the frown on his forehead was not going anywhere anytime soon.

"A sensei teaches to a team. Why should Hatake-san teach any of you a thing? You're not a team, from what I heard, you rarely manage to complete a mission without almost killing each other." I drawled, making sue that my tone expressed how obvious the whole thing was.

_At least I hope it's like this and not because Kakashi is simply all kinds of bat-shit crazy._ I thought.

"But..." He started to object only to be cut off.

"You're more capable than your teammates," I said for him, hopping down from my perch.

"And I am more capable than you. Should I ignore you in the same way you ignore your teammates?" Seeing that I wasn't getting to him, I tried another way.

"Do you know why I set up camp here?" I asked, gesturing with my head in the direction where my yurt was.

"I was broke, and camping on training grounds is dangerous while it is against the law doing so in parks." I simply said "And you helped me by not whining too much.

"Then when I saw you doing... that abhorrent attempt of taijutsu..." And I enjoyed seeing him scrunching his nose in distaste at the reminder, "I helped you with it."

I stretched and walked again towards my yurt, Sasuke following me: "When I went away, you helped me by taking care of the greenhouse."

I took out a cigarette without lighting it up. _I turned this shape manipulation exercise into a vice_. I realized. Then shrugged, it wasn't like I smoked more than one or two each day, and I was protecting myself from the nocive effects. So, what was the harm? _I wonder if I can learn how to breathe underwater. How hard can it be extracting air from water?_

"So, since I helped you, do you think you could help your teammates?" I asked.

Sasuke frowned heavily: "I won't waste my time with them, and I never asked you to... help... me"

"Did our spars feel like wasted time to you? That's not the point." I sighed.

"You don't _have to_ help others, Sasuke, but wouldn't it be better if everyone helped someone else because they wanted to?"

* * *

_15 February- year 13 AK_

**DAIKI**

I had prepared them as best as I could, but I knew very well that nothing truly readies you for your first kill. I would have spared them the gruesome task, if not for the mess that the chunin exams were going to be. In the manga Konoha hosted only Suna and Oto, the first an ally, and the second a newborn village, and there weren't many chunin hopefuls. However I had kept track of the person of interest in the future. As one of the Twelve I had access to the records of the chunin exams, and were expected to point out a Guardian candidate if I spotted one.

Kurotsuchi still had to attend a single exam, likewise Samui, Omoi and their redhead teammate. I had no doubt they would be brought in Konoha, the last years had been lackluster on every side, Kumo had to show that despite its loss of the jinchuriki it was still strong, and for whatever reason Onoki had kept his cards close to the chest.

I watched carefully from the branches as my genins steeled themselves and poured death over the group of bandits I had selected this mission for. It was a C-rank like many others, and I had to stare down Iruka to have it. It was a sweeping mission, nothing more, nothing less. Find and kill, simple. And still, I was saddened by the inevitability of the whole thing. I did not doubt that even in the manga their team had faced a similar mission. _Hell_, _from what I know, the only one who never killed was Naruto_. I realized.

Faster than anyone could see, I flickered inro the fray, knocked one man out and returned to my position with him on my shoulder.

I observed their technique and their expressions. Choji wore his determination on his face while he broke bones a made organs implode, Ino looked almost _feral_ in the way she whirled through the three men who circled her, stupidly believing her the easy target. Shikamaru's face was blank, while he used with the least effort necessary his shadow to make the four he was dealing with falter at the right moment before plunging kunais in vital points. I nodded, they had learned well. I gave them the same suggestion my sensei had given me: 'You'll want to freeze. Don't.'

It wasn't helpful, but again, nothing really was.

I had let them come up with a plan, Ino scouted ahead entering the mind of a bird, and they choose to attack just before dawn, when the men slept sounder and so that they could see if any of the targets awoke and tried to either escape or jump them from the dark.

"The wheel turns..." I muttered to myself when they finished. My genins were just standing there, either looking at their own hands or staring with hollow eyes in front of themselves.

I hopped down the tree and stared at my genins, snapping my fingers to gain their attention: "Clean yourselves at the stream and go back to the camp, I'll clean up here."

I looked at them go before turning my attention to the battlefield. My genins had started well, but one of the bandits awoke and raised the alarm, forcing them to actually fight. _One less thing to worry about_.

In a single mission, each of my genins experienced both silent assassination and open butchering.

I looted the bodies for what little they were worth, but I didn't find encrypted messages or anything worthy of mention.

I grabbed my still alive bandit and flickered with it to our camp. _Now the hard part_.

"You've been adequate." I started. "You should be proud to have served your village." and I didn't miss the way their heads trembled, unsure between nodding and refusing my praise.

"There are several ways to deal with killing humans." I started speaking noticing the curious gazes sent at my prisoner.

"Many think nothing of it, is to kill or be killed. Others simply focus on the fact that somehow it protects the village, and as such, killing bandits or nuke nin makes you some sort of hero."

I sat down and started a campfire with a single tiger seal and a flare of fire natured chakra, gesturing to the kids to settle down. Storytime_._

"There were once two brothers." I started.

"They were orphans you see, but that didn't matter, because at the orphanage they had all they needed. And growing up with the stories of their heroic Kages, they choose to become ninja too and protect their village from the rest of the world.

When they started attending the academy, they no longer were required to do menial tasks in the orphanage, and they were even fed more food, after all children that train to become ninja need a lot of energy.

The older brother however was used to take care of his younger sibling, and as such he willingly shared his extra food with the other orphans, and kept washing the dishes after dinner, or helping the younger children around.

The younger brother instead was determined to become strong enough to protect the village, and so, he ate all he was offered, and spent his free time training, learning, improving.

When the time came the younger brother made genin, the older failed, and instead of entering the genin corps, he chose to keep an eye on the other orphans that didn't find it in them to become ninjas. To gain some ryo and help those too old to live in the orphanage and maybe saving something for himself for when he would turn an adult, the older brother worked as a helper in the market district. When the new caravans came in, he helped them with moving the merchandise, and when they needed to go, he helped them loading the carriages.

In the meantime the younger brother kept working hard as a genin, and since genins are legally adults he moved out of the orphanage. While the two brothers loved each other dearly, like often happens, they drifted apart, both staying loyal to their dream of protecting the village. One with missions as a shinobi, the other with the self-imposed mission of helping others like him.

After some time, the older brother was offered a job in one of the caravans. He could travel with the merchant, keeping up his good job of moving the merchandise, since he had grown so skilled at it. And since the older brother knew a lot of trustworthy children in the village, the merchant was more than happy to return to that village more often. After all, trustworthy well-meaning people, young or old, are difficult to come by.

And while his younger brother became chunin, taking higher-paying missions which earned more prestige and money to the village, the older brother started working with the merchant, making sure that the merchant felt safe and welcome in the village, and that he would spread the word. So both brothers brought prestige and money to the village, that so had more and better resources to take care of his citizens. The older brother soon grew strong and respected, and the merchant accepted other young children from the village who the older brother had convinced to work with him. After all, trustworthy well-meaning people, young or old, were difficult to come by.

One day, the caravan was attacked by a group of bandits along the way, the merchant killed. The kids that the older brother had convinced to work with him, decided to join the bandits instead of dying. And so, to protect those kids from the evil bandits, the older brother too joined them, since he had grown big and strong from the years spent loading cargos, and he would make sure the kids would not be treated unfairly.

He wouldn't steal or harm anyone, only make sure that the younger kids would not be mistreated.

And while the younger brother was promoted to jonin, the bandits noticed that none of the people from the village ever killed or stole. Since they were not stupid, as a rule, only those who earned it could eat the fruits of their work. So, the older brother stole from the caravans, since from working for so long with them he knew their favorite routes.

Some of the merchants would not give up their merchandize even under the threat of death, and so, since otherwise, the responsibility of it would have fallen on the younger children that he brought with himself from the village, the older brother killed the merchants. So they managed to eat and stay alive.

One day the attacked a caravan, like they had grown accustomed to. But the merchant leading that caravan had purchased the services of a recently promoted jonin to protect himself and his caravan.

The younger brother tore through the bandits like a knife through wet paper. And neither of the two brothers recognized the other."

I rose from my seated position and grabbed the still unconscious form of my prisoner. I wrapped an illusion around him, turning his hair as blonde as mine and lightly twisting his features so that he would look almost like my twin. With a sharp twist, a crack filled the clearing, the bandit with a broken neck falling to the ground was the only sound that could be heard. The horror and disgust covering my team's faces.

"When you kill a human, you kill a human. Nothing more, nothing less. The ones you killed today had mothers somewhere, each of the men you butchered today had dreams, hopes, even friends. Maybe someone who depended on them." I looked at them sternly.

"You, as my students, will not hide behind pretty and empty words or titles. You killed them, not because I ordered you to, not because the mission required it, not because fate forced you to. You chose. And I want you to remember this moment, I want you to remember the story of the two brothers every time you kill."

I kicked away the dead body, sending it hurling beyond the clearing and through the undergrowth, before sitting down again.

"And every time you kill, you'll know that is because you willingly choose to do so. Even when the mission requires it, you'll be aware of _what_ exactly are you taking away, and you'll feel like you feel now. But you'll do it anyway. Because as I already told you, your life is yours, and so are the choices you make and their consequences." I spoke.

I took out a cigarette, eager to soothe my nervousness with some random chakra manipulation. "Now tell me, are you proud to be a shinobi?"


	20. First Stage

_19 February- year 13 AK_

**DAIKI**

I was sprawled over the roof of the Guardian's hangar-like building, contemplating my next moves, I had in mind only a rough plan. _When you don't know where to go, start from the beginning._ I chided myself.

I had passed the examination a week before, and I was officially going to be one of the Twelve. If I survived their training, that is.

Frankly, I had been ready for worse. While the tactics and sign language I was expected to learn on my own, Daisuke Sato, the shinobi who first tested me, had been more or less constantly wiping the floor with me. He was actually blind, and very kickass.

He had simply stated that through my spars he would be able to evaluate if I was actually committed or not, it would have been a waste introducing myself to the other ten Guardians if I weren't to learn what was deemed necessary. It was bullshit, but I understood that he had to be suspicious of the rookie.

For all he knew, I could be a plant from Konoha to one day overthrow the Daimyō. It was bullshit, but understandable, at least my Kage bunshin running around to gather information had been able to clear up some things that really nobody ever explained to me.

Traditionally, the shinobi and kunoichi who enter the service of the Fire Lord come from one of the smaller, less-known villages.

Doing so they provide visibility to their home country, and none of the said villages would ever have anything to gain with attacking the Daymō or his administration. Konoha, on the other hand, like any of the Great Five hidden villages, was inside the borders of the Fire Lord's domain. But still, Konohagakure was an independent village, the Kage didn't answer to anyone.

I snorted, I would have liked to see anyone order Sarutobi around. Or Hashirama, the one who liked so much the idea of a village hidden among the leaves that used his bloodline to sprout a fucking forest made of Hashirama trees. _Yeah, not very original._ I mused thinking of the dumbass who thought himself smart, naming the wood after his creator.

Ninjas stole. Secrets, money or lives it was of little concern.

I knew that the Daimyō had his army, as every Nation did, but it was an army made of normal soldiers. Hell, a single genin could wipe out thirty trained soldiers. Easily.

But it was hardly necessary, after all, if the Daimyō ever decided to remove Konohagakure, his whole chain of command would be slaughtered during the night by a single Anbu.

I didn't want to think what a Kage could do to a civilian army.

It matched what I managed to link together from my missions. After all, if a merchant issued a mission against another, Konoha would accept it. Killing a citizen of the Fire Lord nevertheless.

_There is likely some kind of defense pact... something along the lines of 'If the Fire Nation goes to war against Suna, Konohagakure will take care of their shinobi_. I reflected.

The information on the era of the pre-hidden villages didn't constant warring clans had to begin somewhere didn't they? Sadly, in any kind of military-based government, history was the first to be rewritten or outright hidden to appease the masses.

I could only speculate that every clan acted as its little hidden village, doing missions for the lord or merchant who was the highest bidder.

The strange, uneasy relationship between Tanyu (the capital) and Konoha was probably the reason I had been left alone during the six months after I made chunin. I had been free to keep taking D-ranks at my leisure, despite clearly being overqualified.

I knew that chunins were given duties like patrol or such trivia, but the higher-ups didn't want me to know anything more than necessary before letting me go to the capital. I could only imagine what kind of coup had been Asuma enrolling among the Twelve.

My considerations came to an abrupt halt when my Kage bunshin dispersed, his memories and chakra returning to me.

"Yes." I grinned.

I sat cross-legged, opened the first three gates and waited a couple of minutes for the extra chakra to somewhat settle down. I could feel my coils stretching painfully when I used my outstanding chakra control to force close my tenketsus and force the chakra to flow faster and to not get dispersed around me.

I gathered my chakra and formed the seals: Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Sheep.

I slammed my hand on the rooftop, exclaiming joyfully: "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

I felt half of my chakra disappear, for an instant of freezing fear I found myself _not-being_.

I reappeared and before anything could happen, I jumped away and started looking around, taking notice of any possible threat. It looked like I was safe.

I took in my surroundings: under my feet there was an unbroken herbaceous layer, while the 'forest' around me was characterized by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy did not close, letting me see the cloudless blu sky and feel the heavy heat of the sun.

I saw enough documentaries in my first life to recognize a Savanah when I was in the middle of one. I knew that summoning without a contract brought someone into the domain of the creatures they were more closely linked to, personality-wise. Orochimaru, snakes, it fit. Jiraya, toads, well, he was an oily kind of pervert, so it did fit.

I really didn't know what to think about Tsunade.

I was running through the various animals I knew inhabited such an environment. I most certainly was no predator, I disliked the inherent conflict of the hunt after all.

With a sigh, I started walking around, looking for clues about which animal ruled over that place.

I only hoped they weren't going to be giraffes.

I awoke with a smile on my face, living again my memories in my sleep wasn't always relaxing, but more often than not pushed me towards a re-examination either my choices or the events that defined my current life.

* * *

A few hours later, I was sitting on a pond with my lovely cute little genins busy performing handstands around me.

"Do you know why I haven't taught you any other jutsu? You must have wondered, after all you got your E or D-rank one down in a week, learned from a scroll. How many others could you have learned under my direct tutelage?" I asked, manipulating the water under me to twirl suddenly into another direction, forcing my genins to adjust immediately their chakra output.

Shikamaru grunted: "Versatility, I use the doton technique to bury paper bombs, trip others in close combat, cast shadows..."

I clapped my hands once, and obediently, my genins balanced themselves on the tips of their fingers, the effort, and concentration clearly visible on their faces.

"Right in one!" I cheerfully praised them, clapping twice. Hearing the sequence, they pushed against the water, effectively hopping over it before returning to balance themselves on their fingertips.

"I thought that hiding yourself effectively would marry wonderfully with the Yamanaka' clan techniques, and it can be built upon. For example, heat is still traceable under that jutsu. So, so thing to improve on." I explained.

I left out my fears that controlling for long periods the mind of great predators might have affected a tiny bit her personality, at least when she was in the middle of the fray.

"And Raiton for Choji explains itself, does it not? Some holds would kill you if you were to try and expand to break them." I continued my explanation, leaving out that I hoped he would one day be able to mimic the Raikage's lightning cloak.

"Another question that you most than likely have, is why I haven't taught you any Katon ninjutsu." I clapped once, and my cute little genin returned to their regular handstand with a satisfied sigh.

"Katon is, by far, the less versatile of the five elements, even if it has the most obviously destructive power." I started.

"So I gave Shikamaru and Choji very low ranked ninjutsu, which is usually taught to people who start their elemental training, since handseals for those two ninjutsu act more like a switch, simply generating a current and seep your chakra into the ground respectively. The things you accomplish with them are shape manipulation." I kept up my explanation. "It's less obvious with the ration technique, but it's there."

I snapped my fingers and my cute little genins balanced themselves on their right hand, bringing the other behind their backs.

"It's not my job to micromanage your development, if I did so, the enemy would need to know only one of us to come up with tactics that would deal with all of us. Besides self-development is the only thing that makes you know your skills inside out, which is of paramount importance." I chatted amenably, exercising my control over the water making it ripple in unsteady waves, forcing my genins to curse and adjust their chakra output.

"You see, perfection is always a step further, there is no such a thing as 'mastering' either a jutsu or a nature manipulation, since every time you perform it a tiny bit differently. But 'effectiveness'. That is an actual goal that can be reached with enough practice."

I rose from my position without permitting my genin to stop their exercise and I walked towards the end of the pond. _I love training ground 11._

"Do you remember the kawarimi week?" I asked.

Sarcastic snorts were the only answer I received, I shrugged. Chasing freshly minted genin with their legs tied for a week, forcing them to either run on their hands or performing kawarimis maybe had been a little too much. But that jutsu was the most underrated I had ever witnessed. _They needed to actually learn to use it._

"What about the genjutsu week?" I asked, referring to the ten days I spent casting an unrelenting barrage of genjutsus over them. I affected all of their senses separately and together, only their depth perception, sometimes hitting like a battering ram, others being as light as a feather. _They needed to learn to not be caught unaware_.

Even if placing genjutsu on Choji to make him miss his own mouth during lunch had maybe been a bit over the line. _Naah._

"Good job, you've earned a minute of respite, come behind me to rest." I ordered, and the kids immediately took their chance. They still were terrified that I would spot some youthful spirit and make them work even harder.

When they sat down behind me, I let go of the hold I had over the first five gates, feeling my enlarged pathways being filled to the brim with fast-flowing chakra. I regulated my breathing, noticing with satisfaction that while the chakra was flowing faster, it wasn't in any way turbulent and wasn't straining my coils.

I started slowly going through hand seals, building up a good half of my reserves: "I've been thinking of a way to train you to fight in the open sea for a while now. Kawariming with stuff that is underwater can be tricky, even more if there are currents or If you don't keep the water out of your lungs."

Feeling the dread in my students, I smirked, but I kept collecting the water around us: "Don't you worry though, I've been reading up on lungs, so even if yours collapse I can probably heal them and we can keep going."

_Being a mednin is awesome_. I thought when I heard the genins whimpering.

I concluded the handseals and inhaled deeply, before completing the technique, shouting just for scaring the living shit out of the Anbu who was spying on my training of team 10: "Suiton: Dai Bakusui Shōha!" (Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave)

And just like Kisame did in the anime, I encased the whole training ground 11 in water. It came forth like a tidal wave, collecting and magnifying every speck of water it could find, churning on itself into a giant semisphere.

I turned toward my speechless genins with a smile: "Well what are you waiting for?"

Faster than they could see, I grabbed them for the scruffs of their necks and tossed them over the giant semisphere.

"Kunais and other shit are floating underwater, take a breath, kawarimi with it, then climb your way back up. Oh, and remember to reinforce your bodies with chakra, or the pressure may kill you." I explained the exercise I had just come up with with a smile, but seeing their pale expressions I rose an eyebrow.

They immediately got to it.

* * *

_15 April- year 13 AK_

I went to see my team off at the waiting hall for the genins more to scout their competition than to actually wishing them good luck. I had hammered them through survival and fighting experience. I drilled into them several lessons, like never giving up, since whenever one of them had faltered during training I hurt him or her even worse. Or like always be prepared.

I would always remember with fondness their faces when I kidnapped them on a free day and chased them still in their pajamas for two weeks straight in training ground 11.

I laid the foundations that would make them think about their place in the world. I had forced them to 'look underneath the underneath' basically asking for something while meaning something else entirely. For example, I had them cross a whole booby-trapped training ground (I spent a lot of money in paper bombs) to reach a flag. I told them that who would bring back the flag would win a whole day off. They clashed over it while it was a test meant for them to work together.

I poked their inflated big heads, tasking them with the retrieval of three flags I placed around Konoha. The first two had been a walk in the park, the third had imploded over their heads an empty warehouse I had purchased exactly for that purpose and almost killed them when a storage seal unleashed an airborne inflammable poisonous gas. _Maybe I went overboard with that one._ I mused.

All in all, I thought I had done a good job with them. Surely they outclassed their manga-selves, and by a wide margin.

_But, _I thought, taking in the far too many teams in the waiting hall,_ I have no idea how it will turn up._ There were at least three hundred genin hopefuls, the second stage was going to be a bloodbath.

There were far too many people around, and like I had predicted, Iwa and Kumo had appeared into the fray. I spotted Kabuto with his freaky round glasses and his weird teammates and sighed. _I'll probably have to jump __in between Orochimaru and Sasuke._ I considered.

It would likely disqualify team 7, but considering the absolute clusterfuck the Elemental Nations would become if Sasuke got marked, I didn't particularly care.

I finally noticed my team entering the hall and flickered over to them, playfully ruffling Ino's hair, feeling the ninja wire she had hidden in it, ready to shred the idiot who would try to yank her ponytail around. I nodded my approval, ignoring her attempts to stop me and her grumbling.

"Well, you finally made it." I commented.

"You sent us to the other side of Konoha." Ino hotly accused me, happy to have an excuse to tear me a new one.

I shrugged unapologetically: "If you can't find out on your own where you are supposed to be, then you don't deserve to be chunin. Having said that, have fun." I answered, disappearing in a flicker.

I had already given my suggestions days before and talked about my chunin exam, no doubt either Shikamaru or Ino had bargained something with their parents to read the records of my chunin exam, so at least it was something. From the look on Shikamaru's face, I knew that he had caught up with the _wrongness_ that such a vast number of genin was.

And I feared that he had reached my exact same conclusion as how to deal with it.

* * *

_Later_

**K****AKASHI**

I carefully examined my fellow senseis from the elemental nations. Iwa, Kumo, and Suna were present, underlining the conspicuous absence of Kiri. It was _really_ out of character for any if the great five to miss an opportunity to show off.

Ame, Kusa, Sound, Taki... all the minor hidden villages sent their genins without a sensei. Either because their Oyabun deemed the risk of having one of their jonin stripped of every secret too high or because the village couldn't afford the few necessary days said sensei would spend without a mission, I didn't know.

_Probably a bit of both_. I reasoned. Still, it was a common enough recurrence that it didn't raise any suspicion.

I let my eye take in my surroundings, distractedly taking notice of the possible escape routes and more likely places that could hide traps. But my attention was more directed on the other very competent shinobis and kunoichis in the room. It was a large room with a fake mirror that allowed us to check on our students during the first stage on one side, and the several senseis from the different villages had formed little groups, eager to see how their students would perform.

Well, most of them.

Daiki was... rap-battling Killer B. I quickly checked for a genjutsu, but I could find none. I knew Killer B was awful, but Daiki was even worse. I refused to acknowledge their words, I had some fucked up memories, I knew that. I didn't need more.

_W__ars have begun for less._ I thought.

It was my first time attending the chunin exams as a sensei, well, like a sensei of a team under my name.

"Did Morino come up with this while he was still half asleep? It's a bullshit first stage." Daiki commented. He had left the losing rap battle when Ibiki had started his explanation. _Well, that's something._

I eye-smiled, I knew for a fact that Ibiki _did_, in fact, organize the first stage only a few hours before, basically avoiding neatly any risk of any information leak.

I noticed Kurenai giving him an annoyed glare when he started smoking. Daiki noticed it too.

"What?" He huffed. "I feel like smoking today."

"Nervous for your rookies?" an Iwa sensei jibed. I turned an unimpressed eye on the jonin. _Bantering? Really?_

"I'm always sad when children are made to kill." was the chilly answer.

In that moment, in the perfectly quiet class, an Ame genin jumped from his seat with a kunai in his hand and rammed it into the skull of an unsuspecting Iwa kunoichi, killing her on the spot.

The assassin didn't stop, whirling on his next target and slashing his throat open before being slammed on the ground by a chunin plant, while Ibiki _somehow_, managed to gain control over the freaked out genins.

I noticed that Sakura hadn't managed to keep down her breakfast, while Naruto was shouting something at the downed Ame nin and Sasuke's Sharingan was scanning the environment.

_The Ame nin __curiously impaled himself on the__ kunai while being downed by the chunin plant. How... convenient. _I thought_._

After a glance at Daiki who turned up his impassible face like all the other senseis, my eye found the Yamanaka twirling her pencil with a steely expression, a heavy frown on the Akimichi and a bored expression on the Nara.

I could feel the chakra of the Iwa kunoichi's sensei rolling and thundering, looking for an explanation and likely an excuse to kill someone.

The first stage started less than five minutes before, and three teams were already out. Ibiki had a steely expression and reminded everyone that whichever folly had taken the Ame nin, killing in such a way would have disqualified his team nonetheless.

I looked at the cloud of smoke exhaled by Daiki, it formed the number 107, before slowly morphing into 104.

It didn't take a genius to notice that it matched the number of teams, it was unnecessary cruel towards the senseis that had just assisted to the death of their charges, it was underhanded, but he was still a fellow shinobi of the leaf, so I backed him up.

"So..." I drawled "How about a betting pool?"

To my surprise, Guy's 'unyouthful' gaze, and Kurenai's blank face (which was a badly crafted mask to hide her shell shocked expression), Daiki flipped out a notepad and a pencil, ready to mindfuck the senseis from the other villages.

_He was a strange kid, and now is a strange man._ I thought, going once again over his cryptic, or not so cryptic, suggestion back on the day of the teams' formation. But it had been a long time since I last found someone up to fuck around with other people heads simply for the fun of it.


	21. The Second Stage

_15 April- year 13 AK_

**TEAM 10**

The day started well enough, sunny, the air completely lost the chill of winter, and team 10 survived 'the best' that Daiki-sensei had promised to give them 9 months before. More than that, each genin of team 10 was acutely aware of how far they had come, and, trained by their sensei in how to figure out possible threats with a glance, each of them also knew that they were a jellyfish in a shark tank.

The detail which had really worried them, was that their former classmates, with the possible exception of Sasuke and Shino (the second only because was actually unreadable), looked like a tasty kind of goldfish. Shikamaru carefully looked around from behind half-lidded eyes that screamed 'bored' to the ones who had enough experience or training to see. It was an intimidation tactic as good as any, even if from the smirk of the pink-eyed kunoichi he could tell that his bluff didn't work on everyone.

Choji absolutely blank expression had only unnerved their former classmates, who were clearly underqualified for the exam, while Ino carefree acting had only made people edgy anytime she shifted closer to them. Maybe because every time her chakra fluctuated savagely a genin went crazy going on a killing spree. But it happened at the strangest times, even when nobody killed anyone, so none could pin a single kill on team 10, even if, from some of the surprised and wary glances Shikamaru was spotting, they didn't fool everyone.

Whatever plan Shikamaru had, he had known that instigating the first conflict was akin to toppling a bucket filled to the brim.

Likely filled with shit.

Team 10 started it, the other sensible genins soon following their lead. After all, Ibiki forbade people from attacking the others, but he first had to find out who was manipulating who.

Konoha had lost several teams, among the ones left, mostly due to luck, there were the rookie nine, along with team 3, the one under the leadership of their sensei's sensei, and the one with the freakish grey-haired guy who just rubbed Shikamaru the wrong way.

There were several teams left from Suna, but everyone was looking out for the red-haired menace. Which kind of idiot tattooed 'love' on their forehead anyway?

The genins left the First Stage well either shell shocked, bloodthirsty, or disgusted by the bloodbath.

While they were being herded towards the following Stage by the... sexy and single... Mitarashi Anko, Shikamaru made an accurate headcount: From the 107 teams, they were down to 62. There were many minor villages that he didn't even recognize. But he could count 9 Konoha teams, 13 Kumo, 7 Iwa, 10 Suna, 2 Ame, 1 Kusa, 1 Oto, 2 Taki, and among the minor ones he recognized only thanks to an old story, 1 team from Hoshigakure no Sato.

His prodigal mind abandoned the effort of giving a name to each symbol he didn't immediately recognize when the team reached the stage from which the proctor started to explain what they had to do.

But he wasn't listening, not really. He, like Ino and Choji, was looking transfixed at the giant, lurking forest they were about to enter, _again._ The training ground 44.

"I hate you, Daiki-sensei." the three genins of team 10 chorused.

* * *

_17 April- year 13 AK_

Natural energy circulated all throughout the world, but it was imperceptible. Why?

Because any living being was part of the natural chakra present everywhere. Every bug, every blade of grass, every bacteria, somehow, every single living being contributed infinitesimally to the vast and incommensurable energy that permeated the world. The air and earth were filled to the brim with it.

If that meant that the world itself was alive, or just that the sacred tree from which chakra came from was part of a bigger scheme, I had no idea.

In order to use senjutsu, one must first learn to sense the natural energy in their surroundings and draw it into their body, which required becoming "one with nature" by remaining perfectly still. Why?

Because life is movement, simple as that. Because time is the measure upon which reality based itself, time was the measure of change, life _was_ change, change was movement, which meant heat and thusly energy.

Every cell breathing, every synapse in your brain firing, every single beat of your heart. Stilling any part of that would have normally meant death.

That was were chakra entered the fray. Since chakra was, under every perspective, life force, it kept the body in a sort of stasis, and the practitioner staying perfectly still could perceive the world only through his chakra, which wasn't exactly still, but assumed a more quiescent feel.

However, being still, meant being 'dead'. A such, one could, by contrast, perceive the natural energy around him.

Becoming an actual sage meant not only drawing in some of the energy, but dilute it with one's own quiescent chakra in a ratio that did not turn you into stone and that was still enough to 'tinge' your chakra with 'life'.

Why did it turn you into stone? My best guess was that it forced a form of fossilization.

Senchakra cannot be absorbed 'drop by drop', there aren't unit measures for chakra, but to diluite enough even the smallest quantity of Natural Energy one needed _a lot _of chakra. So not everyone could do it.

Luckily enough, with my gates forcibly enlarging my coils during my development, I had enough chakra, with scary-good chakra control.

It took me all the spare time I had during my last year with the guardians, but I had managed it. It required me to keep open 5 gates, but it wasn't something that required a lot of effort on my part. Sadly, opening another gate when already in Sage mode was not something I was willing to experiment with.

Perceive ninja, or even civilians, was trivial while being in 'Sage Mode'.

That was why I was standing, eyes closed and arms crossed, on the top of the tower in the middle of the training ground 44.

I could feel my team springing their ambush on 6 unsuspecting genins.

I distractedly perceived how Shikamaru had covered their surroundings with paper bombs. I noticed how Kurenai's team managed to avoid any confrontation thanks to a combination of their tracking skills. I enjoyed Lee's shouts of youth while he hit like a battering ram unsuspecting teams spotted by Neji. I felt how Gaara kept cutting through trees and humans alike. I recognized Kurotsuchi's team crashing against another, and I felt Omoi seriously slashing his way with his teammates across Hoshigakure's team.

More importantly, I felt Kabuto running circles around Team 7, disposing summarily of everyone who had caught up with the _beacon_ that Naruto was.

I wanted to destroy the gray-haired fucker, but he was doing his job wonderfully, and I was waiting for the bigger fish. I didn't know if Orochimaru still planned to invade Konoha, but five days without supervision in training ground 44 were a juicy window of opportunity.

So, I had been standing still for the past two days, not that I minded, time is something that affects the living, and until I started moving, I was in a trance. The best part? Only another Sage could pick up what I was doing, and I didn't feel Jiraya roaming around.

Sure, he could have prepared some fuinjutsu shit to hide, but why not confronting me then? I would have asked another sage what the fuck he was doing in my village.

I was focusing my attention around Sasuke when I felt it, a ripple, and suddenly he was there. His chakra was cloaked, but such a terrifying speed in crossing the forest was telling, as well as his bloodlust, evident even in the little of his chakra that I could feel.

In the way, I perceived the world, among fireflies a bonfire had been lit.

_Orochimaru_.

I inhaled, resuming my breathing and opening my eyes. My heart thundered once and began pumping. I couldn't see myself, but I knew that markings had developed on my face, thick black bands running vertically over my eyes and converging from my cheekbones on my chin.

I had returned to being properly alive in the space of a half-second, I knew that anyone proficient enough could feel me. Sages were not 'subtle'. I felt the Sandaime's chakra stir in answer to mine, and the sudden wariness of Orochimaru's.

I distractedly took notice of the roof crackling behind my sandals, the branches tearing while I shot through them in a straight line towards my target.

I could distinguish each barb on the bottom side of every single leaf, with sight and touch both, my nose picking up the scents of dozens of genins as I crossed the canopy among them, my presence not even recognizable as a confusing blur.

The ground collapsed under my right foot as I landed in the clearing, the cracks still spreading while I pummeled forward my left foot slamming on the torso of the Snake sannin and flinging him through undergrowth and trees alike.

From the top of the tower to one of the outskirts, I had needed 4 seconds to reach my target.

I touched the ground and appeared for a single second in front of three no longer scared-shitless genins, before pursuing the target, following the path his flying body had drawn into the forest.

I did not relent, I reached him again just as he had recovered his balance.

I closed in, my right open palm thrust trying to hit again his torso. I was ready to fight a body with his strange modification, but it was of little matter what kind of tricks he had, nothing could shield him from the amount of abuse my blows could inflict.

He had already figured out that a direct confrontation would see my raw strength dwarfing his, so he leaned out of the blow with an unnatural twisting of his spine, my arm going wide and leaving myself open for a counter-attack.

The senchakra moving around me like an armor however, did more than simply glance him, once again plowing him through the training ground 44.

There hadn't been words on my part, and only a wordless enraged hiss from my target, the only sounds had been the dry thud of meat against meat, on a soundtrack of shattering wood.

I never really appreciated the threats given before a fight, I loved bantering as much as everyone, and wit was such a rare thing, but talking while you were risking your life seemed only stupid.

Orochimaru rose 4 Tsuchi bunshins from the ground while he was still flying, I followed, uncaring. My right hand shot forward and slammed the first face-first against the second, I kicked away the head from the third and enjoyed the surprise of the fourth when the kunai that he tried to plunge in my armpit broke against my toughened skin before slamming my left elbow through its skull.

Once again I appeared less than ten meters from him, but he was ready for me, a white, double-edged Jian gleaming in his right hand. Even if my skin could no longer be marred by normal attacks, I wasn't exactly eager to test it against the Kusanagi itself.

He stood straight, the sword pointing toward me while he studied me with a tilted head. Very pale skin, golden eyes with slitted pupils, purple markings around his eyes and fang-like teeth. Pronounced cheekbones and straight waist-length black hair with some locks covering and framing his face or to his shoulders. He was him alright.

I noticed his shredded skin laying behind him and didn't hide my grin.

"Ah..." he hissed "I _know _you..."

Four seconds for me to reach him, one for my first kick, two for our second interaction, five for me to deal with the bushings and reach him again. I tuned him out, freaking people with chit chat was my thing, not his.

The Hokage had likely felt me raising the alarm 12 seconds before, I could feel him enclosing. I also knew that, the more people butted in, the more opportunities he had to escape. Again, talking would only be detrimental to me, I had absolutely 0 experience in dealing with S-rank ninjas, and I was acutely aware that training and preparation were all well and dandy until they suddenly weren't. So, while determined, I was also wary.

I flicked a hail of shurikens at him and blurred through hand seals: "Suiton: Hahonryū!" (Tearing Torrent)

I collected the humidity from the air, my vast reserves of chakra easily multiplying the insignificant mass of water into something truly terrifying, the water spiraled in my hand which fired at a high speed towards Orochimaru, taking everything in front of me with it.

An earth wall rose from the ground, but I had overpowered the jutsu too much to be denied.

I felt him move underground and twisted, the Kusanagi slashing where my throat had been until a moment before.

He had burst from the ground behind me, and he kept me at a distance, forbidding me from engaging in an honest taijutsu confrontation, where we both knew I held the advantage.

The blade suddenly elongated, trying to skewer me, while the ground under my feet tried to become unsteady under the influence of the sannin. I slammed forcefully my chakra in the ground, gaining control while twisting my torso sideways, my armored left forearm countering the flat of the blade while my right hand rushed forward palm open and fuuton chakra coursing through my pathways and exploding from my palm' tenketsus.

The air between us exploded and sent him back, his feet dragging into the dirt.

Another nine seconds had passed.

"Such a foolish boy." an old voice heavy sounded through the clearing that our brief scuffle had created. Out of nowhere, a black staff speared into my opponent, taking advantage of the brief lapse in his balance and focus both.

The Sandaime Hokage had arrived, and I could feel a dozen or so Anbus waiting for an opening among the branches.

"Sensei..." Orochimaru hissed, his chakra churning and readying to do _something._

I shot forward once more, a mizudama the size of a small horse opening the way followed by a Suiton: Zessenzan that cut through a boulder that Orochimaru somehow threw at me. Once more I engaged in close combat, knee thrust hitting the shin of the sannin's leg raised in a kick and fracturing his tibia.

_Finally_. Grim satisfaction filling me, I moved forward, another thick high pressured jet of water cutting Orochimaru at his waist.

He emerged from his mouth without a scratch, a fireball leaving his lips less than a foot from my face, I hastily retreated spitting another Mizudama and shaping a Mizu Bunshin out of the following vapor.

Somewhat we were still in the same positions as before, Orochimaru once more with the Kusanagi in his hands staring us down.

"What do you search here, you foolish child?" The Kami no Shinobi asked, appearing at my side once more.

Orochimaru smiled sweetly and was about to answer when I cut him off: "It won't really matter once he's dead, will it?"

I _really_ disliked pointless chat during a battle. I noticed the yellow eyes of my opponent narrowing slightly.

"Not liking being interrupted, do you?" I smiled. I disliked _pointless _chat, riling up the enemy to throw him off balance was anything but.

"Besides, you're not extremely brilliant, attacking team 7." I went on, bending slightly my knees, as I was about to jump.

"So either the Uzumaki or the Uchiha... Oh? The Uchiha then." I feigned to have read some answers on his face.

His face was perfectly blank, even his pupils didn't widen, and his chakra was... coiled, like he was about to strike when suddenly his body crumbled into the dirt and his presence vanished from my senses.

I blinked, sensing all the living beings around me. He was gone.

I stomped down, _hard, _imploding the ground and causing fissures: "That's why talking during a fight is _stupid_!"

"Daiki-kun." the Sandaime had caught up in time to assist to my outburst.

"I believe there is going to be a debrief?" I drawled, doing nothing to hide my annoyance at the thought.

* * *

**TEAM 10**

Choji was ready to fall from the branches above, Ino was well hidden among the bushes and enveloped by her cloaking technique, her experience with it enough to make sure that not a wisp of chakra could be perceived.

Oh, Choji was masking his chakra too, like Shikamaru, but neither was just as good as her.

The once lazy Nara had littered the entire area in front of the building with disguised holes through which his shadow could sneak around and hid on the downside of a branch that sprouted from a trunk at roughly five meters of height. Team 10 made mean ambushes, considering that paper bombs had been strategically placed since day one to herd teams in their waiting maws.

When the booms started, the three genins knew that they were about to implement their plan, Ino would be the one spearheading the attack. By proxy, Shikamaru would follow and Choji was to cut the loose ends. It was as simple as effective, and even if they didn't manage to overcome all the enemies with the carefully laid ambush, team 10's members felt that they would more than likely remove at least two members out of three of any incoming team.

"I call bullshit, how the fuck can Konoha have such a big ass training ground? I mean it's easily ten square kilometers isn't it?" A whining shinobi alerted team 10 that whoever activated the paper bombs was incoming.

"Shhh!" A whisper cut off the voice "Those paper bombs were some kind of trap and you worry about the dimensions of this place?"

"Cut him some slack, he's the one who pulled us out of that shit after all." another shinobi said.

"Even taijutsu specialist have their uses, I suppose. But seriously, just who places five paper bombs on each branch?" a_ fourth_ voice teased.

If the three Konoha genins had been listening to each other thoughts, they would have marveled at how much their curses differentiated. But again, Daiki-sensei had been thorough.

Still, the plan Ino was the one calling the shots, even if they were dealing with 2 teams instead of 1.

Ino observed the shinobi treading forward carefully, wary of other paper bombs. His measured steps gave her all the time she needed for her aim to be true. Even with her lips moving to name the technique, no sound escaped from her position, it was a testament both to her familiarity with her clan's most famous technique and her skill with the camouflaging Daiki-sensei had made her learn so many moths before.

The taijutsu specialist blinked and kept walking forward, leading the two Suna teams fully in the clearing. He kept his wary demeanor, but brought a hand in front of himself, using his body to hide it from the others and signaled to Choji that Ino had succeeded.

The genins reached the gate and started reading the poem written by the Hokage to try and figure out their clue about what to do with the scrolls they had collected when the first of the group _moved_.

A second later, his teammates were laying one dead, the other with a kunai embedded in the forearm he managed to rise to defend himself.

The taijutsu specialist shot forward and finished the job exploiting the staggering thought processes of his teammate, who was trying to reconcile the sight of the kunoichi on his team being killed by its third member.

While a kunai was slipping between his ribs the kunoichi from the other team yelled: "It's like the first stage!"

The Nara Clan's technique ran on the side of the trunk, taking advantage of the natural shadows of the forest and latched for half a second on the Suna shinobi who was carrying a terrifying-looking puppet, stilling it for the second necessary for Ino to close in on the next target, by proxy.

The only Suna kunoichi still alive tried to ensnare the shinobi under the Yamanaka's control when Choji fell on her back like a ton of bricks, pummeling her into the ground, while the Suna shinobi slashing a tanto in his direction was forced to disengage to protect himself from a hail of shuriken, courtesy of Shikamaru, only to be clipped by the taijutsu specialist, who went on barreling into the puppeteer.

Choji heard a gasp and noticed Ino rolling out of her hiding position, a hand pressed against her bleeding side. The other holding a knife, and there was a steely determination printed on her face.

A partial expansion later and a grunt of effort on Shikamaru's side, the two remaining shinobi were lying in a bloodied mess on the forest floor.

The conflict lasted less than 30 seconds. "Sensei would have been proud." the Akimichi said, just before Shikamaru fell from his hiding position, exhausted by having held still two distinct shinobis, and Ino crumbled on the ground, her breath hissing through her teeth while the blood kept running from the wound on her side.

"But it could also have gone better." He grumbled, quickly looking for the earth scroll among the Suna teams.


	22. Quietly waiting the storm

_17 April- year 13 AK_

**DAIKI** **kage bunshin**

Ino had required some stitches, and Shikamaru had simply exhausted himself, but beyond that team 10 had succeded with time and scrolls to spare.

They had spent the past 2 days recovering and sorting through everything interesting Choji had taken from the Suna nin.

Shikamaru had taken up a tanto with a grim expression and had secured it horizontally at his waist, while Ino appreciated the bundle if senbons coated in a poison that Choji savaged from the shattered puppet.

The various teams which had managed to pass the second stage had been herded into a big circular room with a balcony that ran around it.

I toned out Sarutobi during his speech and from my advantage place, I took in both the senseis and the genins in the room. As I had suspected, butting in int the second stage had disqualified team 7, and while I took some heat for it, mainly in the form of enraged glances from Konoha's council, which was eager to show off the jinchuriki and the Uchiha, the fact that I had bitch-slapped Orochimaru had reigned them in. I even refrained to point out that while combat-skill-wise both Naruto and Sasuke could make chunin, neither had the mentality for it.

Surprisingly, Kurenai's team (number 8) somehow made it, along with Guy's team (number 3), and obviously my team. I was just happy that they were still alive, keeping them safe would be much easier, I could make them forfeit in case they picked the wrong opponent.

My eyes trailed over Gaara and his cute little siblings, his killing intent washing over me without finding any kind of purchase.

Killing intent had always been a fascinating concept. It was the equivalent of the moment if fright a sudden growl from a rabid dog caused in any civilian, only magnified. Controlling it consciously was something instinctive for most. I had no idea how it came to be, since, from what I understood, I only mimicked it. _It's probably because I do not wish to kill people._ I reflected.

I spotted Kurotsuchi's team, and wiggled my fingers in a mock salute at them, noticing Kurotsuchi's eyes widening in recognition.

Otogakure's team made it, along with Kabuto's one. I carefully didn't let my eyes linger on him for a moment more than necessary. The plan was collecting the bespectacled shinobi's team after the preliminaries, Ibiki was going to have a party with them.

Otogakure's team was safe, for now, since we couldn't break the chunin charter, but any Konoha's nin could be taken in for interrogation if a higher up determined there were enough motives to be concerned.

And after my debriefing with Sarutobi, the Sandaime himself had authorized it.

The genins joined us big kids on the balcony, bar the first two facing each other in the preliminaries. They were the two teammates of Kurotsuchi.

I snorted. _The Hokage is taking revenge for the stunt he pulled at my exam_. I almost laughed out loud. "The higher you climb the power ladder, the more your politicking gets to resemble the behavior of a spiteful pampered kid." I muttered, knowing very well that every single jonin could pick up what I said.

Guy got the reference, if his split-second grin was anything to go by.

I smiled when Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji made their way towards me, I had kept an eye on them, but contact with the sensei for the duration of the second stage had been forbidden. I grinned, finding tired but matching smiles ones on their faces.

Faster than they could react, I ruffled their hairs: "I'm sorry you had to go through this," I whispered "But you've done well ducklings. Keep it up for today, breakdowns tomorrow, ok?"

I received nods as answers and Shikamaru spoke: "It's been horrible sensei and Ino..."

The Yamanaka slapped a hand on his mouth glaring at him fiercely.

"I know." I said in a soothing tone "I've been watching. But now scout the competition."

I stopped watching the spar between the Iwa shinobi to look at Kurotsuchi. She was near her sensei, a bulky built guy with a square jaw and black hair. He was the typical Iwa jonin, even if I guessed he was present more for keeping up the facade of his genins needing him.

Say what you want, but Kurotsuchi survived her first chunin exam when she was ten, and since then she had four years to grow in her role. I had no doubt she was going to be a ringer, very much like my team had been.

Shino Aburame, of all people, had walked up to her, and if the frown on Kurenai's face was anything to go by, he did so without her permission.

"You are an Iwa kunoichi, and yet you spared us in the second stage. Not only that, but you let us go with the extra scroll your team had. Why?" He said.

_Wow, straight to the point. But asking the enemy for information is hardly the shinobi way to go about it._

In the same way, every jonin had heard me before, everyone with polished enough hearing turned their attention toward the Aburame kid. It was nothing as obvious and crass as turning heads, but glances ran between him and his female sensei with a curiosity barely hidden.

Not only for Shino's surprising revelation but also, and maybe more, to find out if his teacher was on board with it. She wasn't expressing her disapproval, but the fidgeting of her other two students gave it all away. _Well, I too didn't teach my kids how to gather information, hammering them into a survival-worthy shape had required all the time I had with them. _I considered.

Kurotsuchi tilted her head and looked at me while answering: "I didn't come to Konoha to kill children."

I mimicked a clapping motion and nodded to Onoki's grandaughter. _Not every good action gets punished it seems._ I thought.

I took out a cigarette and lit it, distractedly looking at the genins ducking it out in the arena below.

It was already Kiba's turn, and he ended up picking one of Kabuto's teammates who didn't retire. _You delayed your interrogation by half an hour. _I singsonged in my mind.

It was an attrition fight, the masked Konoha nin had to exhaust the chakra of the Inuzuka before either Akamaru or Kiba landed a crippling injury. The gatsuga was rightly feared.

"His sister was my teammate you know." I wistfully told to my team, "She used a combination of clan techniques and doton, very well polished for her age. He falls short in comparison, but we had years to become proficient."

I received some surprised looks from them, while Shikamaru's turned into one of... pity? Or something like that. But their eyes almost immediately returned to the fight, correctly identifying that my reminiscing was a lower level priority than scouting the competition.

I nodded to myself, they had picked up prioritizing well.

I watched, occasionally offering a comment on the several fights that followed, and soon it was Ino's turn.

She had been paired with the crazy guy with the wind blowing shit in his arms from Oto. In half a second, she had him with her clan technique and made him surrender.

"Well, that was underwhelming." She grinned at us when she skipped her way up."Do you remember the three flags I had you collect around the village?" I asked raising an eyebrow. Her blush and the flinch of her teammates were wonderful answers. _Can't have them getting a big head now, can I?_

"But yes, well done. Now, shush and watch." I added.

Sadly, the match between Hinata and Neji had been clearly set up in canon, and it got its repeat.

_In this way, not only Konoha gets to showcase only the better Hyuga, but we can claim that there hasn't been tampering when Onoki will whine about his two genins clashing with each other._ I reasoned.

It went basically like in canon, only without Naruto's cheering from the balcony. Still, Hinata kept getting up, and that was something I could respect.

Neji was all kinds of batshit crazy, I had only met Lee thanks to the hand-running around the village, but I had hoped that his character was somehow fucked up only in the manga. Sadly, it wasn't the case.

Where Hinata was hesitant, Neji was ruthless. Where she was fast, her cousin was faster. Where her hits almost landed, his blows were like a battering ram. _The gentle fist is clearly the most terrifying kind of taijutsu in Konoha._

If Guy wasn't the kind of Beast he was, any Hyuga could duke it out with anyone. It wasn't only the 'I'll kill you with a tap on your heart' thing, but their immunity to genjutsu basically erased the main weakness of melee fighters, who since they passed most of their time working on their bodies, tended to be less aware of their own chakra and as such more easily ensnared.

When the moment came, along with the other four jonin senseis from the leaf, I intervened to stop the fight.

I appeared in front of the strike, too suddenly and too close for Neji to properly react. And if not for Guy grabbing the offending arm, he would more than likely have broken his finger against my armor.

"Only the weak live with rage to support them." I said with a steely expression "Who could have guessed that hate can blind even the Byakugan." I added with an ironic tone.

I returned to the balcony as fast as I left it, watching Kurenai deliver her injured student to the mednins. And I shook my head at the questioning expressions on my genins.

_Fantastic, now he'll remain a douche since Naruto won't manage to beat any kind of sense into him. _I reasoned. _But at least Sasuke isn't one, maybe in this world, one angsty family-killer character is a must._ I reasoned.

I read the display: the next fight would see Gaara facing Choji. "No." I said, placing a hand on the Amikichi.

So Choji wisely chose to surrender. Like hell I was going to have him face Gaara.

I quickly stopped caring for the fights, letting Shikamaru take note of the competition.

I turned Choji towards me and looked him in the eyes: "I'll explain tomorrow, alright? For now, simply trust me."

Lee against Kankuro had been a great showing on Konoha's part, mostly because the first kick of the next 'Majestic Green Beast of prey' shattered the puppet in the first three seconds.

And since Gaara was no longer competing, I simply kicked back and relaxed, enjoying playing with the smoke in my lungs.

I actually fell asleep, and I would do the same if the occasion repeated itself, I didn't get a second of shut-eye since the beginning of the exams, I deserved it, even if I was only a clone.

I awoke in time to see the genin extract their numbers from the urn and the tournament bracket getting established.

Shikamaru vs Neji, Gaara vs Kiba, Lee vs Kurotsuchi, Ino vs Akatsuchi, Temari vs Doku. I blinked in half surprise. _They managed to weed out a shitload of people. _I considered.

"See you tomorrow at training ground 11, 10:00 am. You earned the right to sleep in." I told my team before leaving the room.

I flickered back into the village and strolled aimlessly for a while. _I need both to talk sense into Neji and to warn Kurenai that Gaara is a jinchuriki. _I pondered.

Like I did only once before, I walked into the cemetery until I was standing in front of Asuma's grave, I could enjoy the little time I had left.

I reached Asuma's tombstone, not bothering with lighting him a cigarette this time, and sat down, letting myself reminisce a bit.

* * *

"_C'mon rookie, Konoha nin among the Twelve should back each other up."_

_Looking at my uncertain expression, Asuma rolled his eyes. "I'm honestly curious, kid, I'm not going to tell anyone if you don't want me to. I'll give you a cigarette in exchange."_

_Seeing an opportunity to try to figure out his smoke-fire personal jutsu, I couldn't refuse it._

_"I signed the Elephant contract." I said quietly._

_Asuma actually started laughing: "Well, I would have never guessed it. And? Why does Ichika say that it's useless?"_

_I sighed: "Well, it turns out they dislike fighting. Only the more dim ones have ever accepted to be summoned, actually using a personalized summon."_

_Asuma hummed, taking a deep drag and offering me a cigarette in return: I took it and looked at him questioningly._

_He lit it for me and gestured me forward: "I understand you signed the Elephant Summoning Contract and not a personalized one? Well, summoning contracts are rare stuff, you don't just happen across one, even if you can always add another personalized one, from what I know."_

_"I made sure to add that condition to the contract." I grinned._

_He matched my grin: "So... forgive me, but I am curious, how are the they? I only witnessed Sandaime-sama interacting with Enma. How was meeting them?"_

_"Well I likely had it easier than others, they don't exactly 'hide'." I answered, looking for a way to describe them._

_I shrugged. "I had a lot to talk about with Z__ō__kīshiro__, the boss summon, he is... I don't know, just... larger than life, you know? Not only literally. But, we talked. He doesn't want any member of his herd to get hurt over pretty squabbles, and I totally get him. It turns out they have a great memory and like stories, they have a lot to teach, I think Z__ōsh__ōjokuro__ is a monster at fuinjutsu." I had no qualms with talking about it. Maybe it was his general laid back demeanor and approachable personality, maybe I really wanted a human friend, maybe I counted on the fact that I would become strong enough before returning to Konoha that I no longer needed to be paranoid about my true ambitions. I didn't know. I took a drag and immediately started coughing. It was disgusting._

_Asuma's belly laugh filled my ears while he gave me an awkward slap on my back. "I'll need to teach you how to smoke properly, won't I?" he proposed. My eyes widened seeing him shape the smoke in the kanji for 'Fire'._

* * *

I smiled wistfully, the memory fading from my mind. I sighed and rose from my seat.

"I hope I'm doing a good job." I muttered.

Then I dispelled myself.

* * *

**DAIKI**

The memories of the clone's day washed over my consciousness like a handful of sand being dropped into a lake.

I was perched on the top of the Hokage's tower, taking in the wholeness of the village. Like I had been doing in the middle of training ground 44, I was in Sage Mode, scouting out possible threats. I sent out a Kage bunshin to keep an eye on my team during the preliminaries, and if it wasn't for the fact that I was perfectly still, I would have snorted at his memories of visiting the graveyard.

When I felt another presence on the level of the Hokage, but vastly different from Orochimaru's, I deduced Jiraya finally bothered to show up. I inhaled, resuming my breathing and opening my eyes. My heart thundered once and began pumping. My chakra washing over the now wary toad sage.

I brought my hands forward in s cross-shaped seal and, with barely a whisper, I created a kage bunshin before laying down once more on the tile roof and resuming my 'stillness'.

* * *

**DAIKI kage bunshin**

I looked around myself, I knew that I had golden eyes exactly like those of an elephant and the markings of a Sage (which still did not make sense) and that even as a kage bunshin I could barrel through an absurd deal of abuse. _There are very few things that can actually stop a sage. _I reasoned.

I climbed down the roof and entered the Hokage's office while Jiraya was entering through the door. Most likely only to check out the secretary.

He squared me with narrowed eyes, recognizing the frankly giant threat that I was representing before turning a questioning glance to the Sandaime, who puffed happily on his pipe. Reassured by the indifference of his old sensei, the toad sage turned towards me: "Well, how did Guy's problematic child stumble upon senjutsu?" he asked happily.

My mind easily recalled the memory of my first encounter with my summons...

_With a sigh, I started walking around, looking for clues about which animal ruled over that place.I only hoped they weren't going to be giraffes. I heard them first, a low rumble reverberating through my bones, it was like an avalanche echoing through a valley until the end of it. I wasn't hearing it with my ears, and not really with my body, since the rumble made my chakra_ shiver.

_Finding them had been easy. Outside from the patches of impossibly big trees, there was a great plain, and even from what I could estimate was a distance of 5 kilometers, I could see them._

_"A fucking parade of elephants." I muttered. I really didn't know what to think, I was floored._

_Even worse, I distinctly remembered fucking Danzo of all people summoning one in his battle against Sasuke._

_"No wait, it was a chimaera of some sort... which was the name... oh yes! The Baku was the traditional Japanese nightmare-devouring fucked up beast originated in Chinese folklore_." _I corrected myself, with a relieved sigh._

_"__That raises the question of how the fuck one does get contracted with a mythological animal" __I wondered. The elephants were walking towards __t__he setting sun, and I started running after them._

_"Like hell I'm going to miss a summoning contract." I muttered._

_With my steps raised little clouds of dust while I was running, I took in the parade. Surprisingly enough, there weren't outlandish __colors, even if I could spot the absolute whiteness__ of the one leading them._ _Their growing forms looked... ordinary. Shades of gray, tusks, bigass ears._

_Their chakra, from my limited sensing, was fucking vast. My sensing range was around 10, 15 meters. That I could feel them from kilometers was just insane._

_Another low rumble shivered over my chakra. It was intentional._

_"Well, it explains why I can feel their chakra." I muttered. The elephants were broadcasting their presence. Basically exuding chakra._ Scaring off others maybe?

_Coming closer, I identified the head of the parade and kept running towards him._

_When I was close enough, I faltered._

_It wasn't the whole parade who was throwing around chakra like a fountain, only the male leading them._

_Thinking about it, I shouldn't have been surprised, but huge did not even begin to describe him. I knew that toads snakes and slugs were fucking enormous summons, but the one at the head of the parade dwarfed them._

_He was white, easily twice Gamabunta's size, I had to keep up my sprint to keep up with the 'walk' of the parade._

_The rumbling stopped, and the eye of the titan in front of me took in my presence with a distracted glance before returning to lazily observe the surroundings._

_"Human." he spoke._ _His voice was the rumbling of a landslide, deep, overwhelming, and yet without any inflection. There was no curiosity, no welcoming warmth, no wariness. He had apparently already deemed me 'not-a-threat', so chit-chat wasn't a problem._

_I kept running, the rest of the herd was quiet. As quiet as at least fifty behemoths could be while walking._

_Seriously, the air movements they were causing either with their breathing or simple walking was buffeting me._

_I didn't know how to exactly react to the honestly unreadable welcome. _Should I answer 'Elephant'? Call him sama? Just ask for the contract?

Eh, I'll just go with the flow, they look like laid back people. Hell, I would be if I had no natural predators. Well, lions would attack a lone elephant, but Discovery Channel isn't helping me here.

_I tried to gauge something from the white elephant expression, but, and here's the kick, whatever humanization chakra brings to summon animals, it was absent on the behemoth._

_"Elephant." I answered._

_I ran at his side for a couple of hours, while he kept leisurely walking across the savannah._ _I wasn't in a hurry, and it felt somehow the right thing to do._

_"You know of patience, human." The white elephant spoke, his eyes roaming over the horizon._

_I shrugged, glad that he had begun the conversation._

_"My name is Daiki." I answered, hoping that I passed whatever test they were going to grind me through._

_"Why are you here, Daiki?" The white elephant asked._

Wow, no -san? No -kun either? Did he already dislike me?

_"I want to become a sage. Signing a contract is the only way I know that would make it possible." I shrugged, playing the honest card. I didn't really need to summon giant elephants around, even if the whole_ Kuchiyose no jutsu _had it's own kind of magic appeal_. _I kept running at the side of the titanic animal for another twenty minutes before he answered._

_"Why should I allow it?" He asked, his voice unreadable as always._

Wow. That is unexpected. Not 'How do you know about it?' 'Why do you want to be a sage?'

_Fortunately, I was ready with a lot of points in my favor._

_"Do the animal summons need chakra for their self-awareness and intelligence?" I asked as an answer._

_The white behemoth did not deign me of an answer, but given the fact that we were talking with intervals of at least twenty minutes, maybe he was just thinking about what my question could imply._

"_D__oes it look like we need more chakra?" he questioned. I couldn't tell for sure, but he was almost sardonic._

_"Did the animal summons exist before Kaguya Ōtsutsuki made a mess with the sacred tree and her son started to teach people how to use chakra?" I asked._

_Now, _That _surprised him. He didn't falter, I didn't even want to think about the kind of damage he could do if he tripped._

_"You know many things humans have forgotten." He grumbled after a while._

_"I need to become strong enough to stop Kaguya's third son from freeing her. I don't know how animal summons came to be, but I bet that animals mutated to adapt to active chakra pathways, and that somehow senchakra created the 'summoning plane'. If Kaguya comes back, she'll take back the chakra, all of it." I elaborated._

_The white elephant took another two steps, then _stopped walking. "_I don't feel lies. And yet you speak of the impossible."_

_The rest of the parade moved over to the nearby trees, which were almost as tall as them_, _and cheerfully, from what I could understand, started eating._

_They had all ignored me, likely knowing that I wasn't a threat, and that even if I was, their boss could more than likely simply splatter me._

_"For everything that begins, there is an end." The white behemoth spoke, his eye, vast and terrible, zeroing on me. It was golden, and almost burning with life. _How the fuck didn't I notice that before.

_"Everything changes, the world should go forward, not eat its tail." I countered._

_The white elephant took a deep breath and exhaled. With the effect of almost sniffing me up his trunk and blowing me away. He rumbled again, making my chakra _shiver_._

_"The herd could teach you what you ask, but what can you teach in return?" __The white elephant asked._

_"I know many things from another world, things nobody else can tell you: History, Science, Poetry, Mathematics, Physics, Philosophy, Fables..." __I offered_._ Who would they tell? The giant elephant was hardly going to sell me to Danzō. Besides, I needed a relationship based on trust, I needed them to make a sage out of me._

_"Knowledge for knowledge." the white elephant rumbled. Somehow I knew that lying to him was an absurdly stupid thing to do._

_"I do not wish for my herd to be called for battle. But if you manage to talk one of the adults into it, I will allow it." He rumbled._

_Acutely aware that we were already negotiating the terms of the summoning contract, I focused on whatever shit I could use summons for._

_In the meantime, another rumble washed over me, this time I felt the accompanying shiver... slide away? From me. And under my eyes, a dozen or so of baby elephants appeared around the area, playing around._

_Well, baby elephants of the size of two-floor houses, but still._

_With his always calm and paced voice that acutely reminded me how easily he could flatten me on the ground, the white elephant spoke again: "I protect my herd, you will stop what the third son is attempting."_

_"If I manage to find another summoning contract can I sign it?" I asked. Something like the hawk contract would allow me to send messages, it wouldn't be half bad._

_"You can if you can afford it." The white elephant answered._

_"What do you mean?"_

_"With chakra, and as you call it, our self-awareness and human intelligence, most species took up several of mankind traits." The behemoth explained._

_I nodded thinking about the yakuza-ish behavior and appearance of Gamabunta._

_"Among them, the constant search for power, that they obtain in the form of a blood and chakra sacrifice. Our agreement includes a payment in knowledge, and the stopping of Kaguya's youngest. If the contract you sign will ask of you blood and chakra, you will be able to pay." The white elephant concluded._

_I blinked, surprised by the lengthy explanation when I understood._

He is already taking up his part of the agreement, knowledge for knowledge. _I thought._

"_Knowledge for knowledge, I'll stop the third brother, and summon in battle only an adult I took an agreement with, and obviously I will not harm elephants." I repeated._

_The white elephant rumbled in what I understood was... approval? With maybe a spark of amusement at the idea of me being able to hurt one if them._

_"My name, young student and teacher, is __Z__ō__kīshiro__." The boss summons introduced himself._

_He brought his trunk against the tip of one of his tusks, lightly puncturing it and drawing blood._

_Following my gut, I bit my thumb until I drew blood. _Fucking hell it stings._ I thought vehemently, but I schooled my expression._

_Ōkīshirozō_ _brought down his trunk until his wound stood bright in front of me, I touched it with my bloodied hand and watched with fascination as the contract wrote itself in impossibly complex seals around my arm._

I left my memories and grinned to my fellow sage, not being able to resist, I tried to mindfuck him: "I spied on Tsunade in an onsen and she punched me into the Summons Plane."


	23. Two lessons

_17 April- year 13 AK_

.._.I tried to mindfuck him: "I spied on Tsunade in an onsen and she punched me into the Summons Plane."_

Jiraya spluttered while the Sandaime let out an appreciative snort.

The white-haired sannin looked at me more closely, before glancing at the roof: "You're a kage bunshin, aren't you?"

I nodded: "Your sensei had deemed wise keeping the real me on the lookout. I'm using kage bunshin to get stuff done while 'real me' sits still since I scuffled with your teammate. The creepier one." I explained, knowingly avoiding any direct reference to the Sandaime, I couldn't be bothered to use -sama.

The Hokage helpfully pointed out: "It's his punishment for being a smartass during debriefs."

That sent Jiraya almost rolling on the floor in laughter and made me sigh. "Ahahahh... using a Sage like a sensor... Bwahaha!"

It was somewhat...a task beneath my station, but I deserved it. My body and mind could last several days in the trance, since I didn't need either food or water, and a single kage bunshin could attend to my other tasks.

"And since you chose to visit the onsen before reporting, you'll work in turns with Daiki-kun." The Sandaime cut him.

The laugh died immediately, and before Jiraya dragged us into his looney speech patterns declaring the holiness of being a super pervert, I spoke: "He can't."

Jiraya's eyes narrowed in my direction while the Sandaime raised his eyebrows silently asking to elaborate.

"It's hardly a discussion the Anbu need to listen." Jiraya surprisingly came in my rescue. We both looked expectantly at the hidden forms in the ceiling, who left by the window at a twitch of Sarutobi's fingers.

After that Sarutobi watched at me expectantly, not bothering hiding my smugness I gestured toward Jiraya like I was making introductions: "Mockery of senjutsu." Then I pointed towards myself: "Actual Sage."

Sarutobi was unimpressed, and Jiraya was watching me with a wary attitude. _Ah, so there was an actual shinobi somewhere under the idiocy._ I realized.

"You do realize that I am in Sage Mode right now, yes? I can feel your chakra as well as your life force. Whatever stuff you do that turns you into a Sage stresses your body, not enough to turn into stone, but it does strain your body." I rolled my eyes while I was explaining it.

I was milking my knowledge of the manga for all it was worth, but that close to him, I could feel lingering traces of senchakra not evenly distributed on his body. Turning my golden eyes towards Sarutobi, I elaborated: "He can't keep cycling through Sage-not Sage without actually hurting himself."

_Even if I could likely help him._ I reasoned. Jiraya wasn't a bad guy on my books, having him stronger was only going to help. Maybe, or maybe it was going to blow in my face like most of the changes I had pushed into the storyline. Besides, I really felt better with being the only Sage around. As I said, very few things could stop a Sage: besides another Sage, cheaters with totally broken doujutsu, biju, and gods... well, nothing else.

The expression on Jiraya's face lost the edge of hostility it gained and showed a hint of... respect? _Uh, what kind of thought process does he have?_

"Do not despair, I'll find another way to punish you, Jiraya." the ancient shinobi merrily explained. "If you haven't discovered already..."

"The kid scuffled with my teammate until he got away, yes." Jiraya picked up "But escaping a sage, or even his senses, it's not something easily done, much less in the way the Anbu report stated."

_He managed to drop by the onsens and read a confidential report before coming here. I confirm that maybe he is an actual shinobi, but what do I know._ I thought, masking my surprise.

"A Sage can feel life itself, among the heightened senses." I reminded to The Professor "The only idea I have is that Orochimaru tinkered with a soul-projection of some kind. Basically possessing a tsuchi bunshin, I had no idea it was possible and since Hokage-sama got all defensive when I mentioned it during the debriefing I believed it was something classified." I recounted to the sannin.

That got him to nod thoughtfully before smoothly changing topic: "He targeted the Uchiha, didn't he?"

He turned towards me: "How long can you keep watch in sage mode?"

I raised an eyebrow at the unexpected question: "Another 3 days would be stretching it."

"Very well, you can dispel, the rest of this chat will be above your paygrade." The sannin summarily dismissed me.

I looked at him blankly before turning my head towards the Sandaime, who nodded gravely in my direction. I shrugged and dispelled myself.

* * *

**In the Hokage's Office**

The sannin watched intently at the smoke left behind by the vanishing kage bunshin and closed his eyes, feeling his surroundings.

When he was sure the scary Sage was effectively gone, he resumed talking: "Removing the Uchiha kid from the village would allow us to focus on the rest of the security until the end of the exams. Let Kakashi-kun take his team away, on a false two days long C-rank, he will conveniently get them lost until after the tournament, with his ninkens he shouldn't have difficulties. And a training trip would only do them some good."

The Sandaime considered the proposal while puffing on his pipe. "I would curse the cameras for having recorded our standstill in the Forest of Death, forcing me to disqualify Team 7, but perhaps it's for the best..."

"Still, can Kakashi-kun stay hidden from Orochimaru with his three genins behind him?" the Sandaime pointed out. "The Haruno girl needed a wake-up call before the exams, and Naruto-kun is hardly subtle."

Jiraya sighed. "And that is without considering the Akatsuki... Just Kakashi and the Uchiha then. Toss the other two kids to the 'Actual Sage', keep him busy and out of my hair."

The Sandaime nodded thoughtfully: "I'm only glad that nobody from Kumo managed to pass the second stage, having the Kazekage, the Raikage _and_ the Tsuchikage in Konoha would have been..." He exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, not completing his thought.

"When your message said you found another Sage I thought it was a joke." Jiraya mumbled "I knew the kid was talented, his original ninjutsu was scary, even if very rough, he was basically a combat specialized Tokubetsu during his chunin exams, but a Sage..."

He shook his head, the white mane following suit: "What is exactly his skillset?"

The Sandaime puffed on his pipe: "I had him go a trial in Anbu as soon as he came back from the Capital, he passed the training program bull heading it with sheer taijutsu, his mastery over the first five gates is something Guy-kun had never thought possible. Somehow, likely thanks to his extreme chakra control, he keeps them open without incurring in any kind of strain. In close combat is dangerous, he uses mostly an Iron Fist heavily influenced by his knowledge of the human body, less overwhelming force and more lethal one-hits."

The Hokage rose from his seat and walked over the window, distractedly watching over the village. "I signed him up in the jonin tournament and asked Kakashi-kun to evaluate him. Daiki-kun used a kage bunshin to throw genjutsus on his opponent to gain an edge in close combat, manipulated water almost with the same effortless grace of my own sensei, and pulled off a combination technique on his own, futon and katon. He kept up with Kakashi-kun without opening his gates until his opponent started using the Sharingan. I gave him a genin team because his skill is undeniable, and frankly I hoped the parents would be able to glean something from the children' recounts of their training."

Jiraya rose an eyebrow, say what you want, but Kakashi was no pushover.

"He crossed path with Naruto, in this office in fact." The Hokage continued. "He picked up on Naruto's father after only a glance. But I got the feeling he wanted me to know that he knew, the _why_, however, it's beyond me."

There is one skill every good ninja manages to learn: rolling with whatever shit happens.

After a deep breath, Jiraya answered: "Well Naruto _does_ resemble Minato... but to notice it as you said, it points towards an awareness of his surroundings not common."

"I joined him while he was fighting Orochimaru. During the debrief, he explained that he was in the sage mode to keep an eye on his students." The Sandaime added.

"You don't believe him?" Jiraya questioned: "I read his file, the stuff he put his genins through doesn't make me think of a mother hen... Do you think he knew of the attack?"

"It's awfully convenient." Hiruzen replied "But not enough to make me see a mountain where there is only a pebble, that's more up Danzō's alley."

"The Akatsuki is made by a careful bunch of people, I don't know who is in it, not really, but I don't think they contacted our mysterious jonin." Jiraya reassured his old sensei "They can't have told him about Naruto, that he only noticed his parenthood and not his status as a jinchuriki mostly confirms it."

"I won't lie, he could be one of Konoha's greatest assets but..." the Sandaime gestured vaguely with his pipe.

"He doesn't have a reason to protect the village, he doesn't have bonds. His old teammate went on a bender and is an overqualified chunin who runs D-rank no stop. Daiki-kun is protective of his team, he keeps an eye on Sasuke Uchiha, but that's mostly because he lives in a yurt on his compound, and he got strongarmed to join Guy-kun in one of his training sprees, but that's it. He doesn't search for the company of his peers, and his superiority complex, while carefully kept in check, is still there." The old shinobi trailed into silence.

"What do you ask of me Saru-sensei?" Jiraya asked after a few seconds.

"Get to know him." The Hokage ordered.

* * *

_One day later_

**D****AIKI**

I loved training ground eleven, there was just so much water...

The Hokage's sudden orders had come as a surprise. At the crack of dawn he excused me from my task of being an over-glorified sensor, spouting some bullshit about 'the saplings of the next generation needing a solid ground'.

I was thankful for the end of my embarrassing punishment, but the fact that he added to my team Naruto _and_ Sakura, spoke for itself. Basing myself on the manga,I suspected that Kakashi had dragged Sasuke away on a training trip.

_And it also fits with the two of them meeting during the night after Kakashi visited the Hokage's office._ I added the not-insignificant information to my reasoning. Sage Mode was one of the three things totally overpowered, along with the sharingan and the mokuton. And fuinjutsu, but the last was not something one could become a master of without either several decades of study or being a genius.

I had donned _all_ of my weights, and I went through push-ups, sit-ups and all their siblings for hours, pushing my body like I hadn't been able to do during the last few days.

I was performing a single hand-stand on my fingertips above water, slowly lowering myself until my nose touched the water before extending again my arm.

In the meantime, most of my focus was geared toward making my chakra change its nature. The difficulty was that I couldn't use said change in nature to keep myself above water, so I had to carefully mold the chakra leaving my hand from my fingertips, stabilizing the water.

The hand not busy keeping me from dunking into the large river that crossed the training ground (a side effect of my Suiton: Dai Bakusui Shōha, months before) had the palm turned upwards. My pinky lightly touched my thumb before distancing itself. **z****ap**

A flicker of sparks ran between my two fingers, an uncomfortable tingle running down my arm. I scrunched my face in concentration, trying to reduce the tingling: if electricity wasn't focused only in my hand it meant that I couldn't control it.

"Raiton is such bullshit." I mumbled.

Along with Doton, it was the last element I still had to become comfortable with. Oh I could rise a earth wall, or even throw a little bolt, but the transition wasn't smooth, not yet.

Earth was a powerful element. I mostly understood earth. Unmovable, patient, stubborn, passive and yet unrelenting, strong beyond measure, uncaring of anything else.

I lowered my hand, hovering the palm less than an inch from the surface of the water. My neutral chakra was flowing, naturally mimicking water, but I fell in myself, imagining the unbelievable titanic power unleashed by earthquakes, the density of the ground, the solid foundation upon which life grew outside of the seas. In the same way it flowed into water natured, it freed itself into wind natured, and it burned its way into fire natured, my chakra _pushed_ itself into earth natured.

With a decisive effort, I willed it to reach _through_ the water until it made contact with the muddy bottom of the river. I pushed my chakra into it, forcing it into the ground, shaping it to match my intent.

I yanked my hand upwards, and the ground under the river followed suit.

A column made of jagged rock and barely hold together damp dirt rose from beneath the river, crossing the few meters that separated us and almost nailing me into the chin, it breached the surface of the water and kept rising for another couple of meters before the chakra I fed to it was spent. I took a deep breath and pushed myself off the water, landing on the top of the earth construct I had just created. Perched like a strange vulture,

I rose, easily balancing myself on a single foot. I took a deep breath, spinning my chakra tightly along my pathways, feeling the pressure against the tenketsus through which I didn't allow it to escape.

I relished in the familiar and thrilling sensation, I exhaled, feeling for all the water around me. The small river collected placidly the waters from the surrounding training grounds. The marsh had risen of another meter, thanks to the waterproof wall surrounding the entirety of the training ground.

Since the beginning of the second stage, I hadn't bothered closing my gates, I had let my chakra blaze brightly, and I was sure that if I walked among my peers I would have arched more than a few eyebrows. For the space of a split second, I stilled, feeling the life and the energy all around me. I recognized five kids crossing the wall of the training ground and an... observant? presence on the outskirts of the marsh, a hundred meters or so following the current of the small river, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. The fact that he reminded me of a small amphibian, however, spoke loads.

I let go, my heart beating his steady rhythm and the air once again entering and leaving my lungs. I called forth my chakra freeing it into his wind nature, shaping it with Boar, Monkey and Dragon. I folded it, letting the tension I was used to settle in the tenketsu at the base of my throat, then I twisted my chakra into a hungry, raging fire and went through Boar, Horse, Tiger.

I blew my katon technique while letting go of my fūton one, molding them together, whispering: "Ninpō: Shiroi honō!" (White blaze) and I let the wall of white-hot fire sweep over the surface of the river.

I kept feeding chakra to the technique, I chanted: "Hinokami no mai." (Dance of the fire god) clapping my hands together in a Bird seal, shaping the wall of white-hot fire into a bird of prey, its wingspan easily covering ten meters.

Directing the vast phoenix to fly in an upward spiral, faster and faster, the technique naturally evolved into a fire twister, copious amounts of vapor generating on the surface of the river sucked in by the vacuum generated by the air consuming justu.

The white flame however, was so hot to burn the hydrogen and oxygen that composed the vapor, growing upwards with a song made of howling wind and crackling fire.

I wrestled with the technique, forcing it to develop only upwards, and held it for twenty seconds, each one of them felt as long as an hour, and when I felt my tenketsus were about to got damaged by the effort I was subjecting them to, I cut off the technique.

A breath later, I clapped my hands in a snake seal and, with a heavy grunt, I yanked upwards the river around me with a wordless suiton manipulation. The water rose sharply in a twisting cocoon around my previous technique, too much and to heavy to be burnt by the Hinokami No Mai once that I stopped feeding chakra to it.

I kept the water up, shaping it in a sphere and burning loads of chakra to make it spin as slow as I could. Water flowed, and stilling it was something that turned every suiton technique into something with an unbelievable chakra cost. But the whole point of what I was doing was exercising my chakra pathways, so I didn't mind.

I slowly picked up the spinning speed of the ball of water before suddenly letting it fall into the river. When the rippling wave hit the rock perch I had made for myself I let my chakra flow into water natured and coaxed the water sprout to land into my cupped hands. I drank, because futon and katon combinations made me fucking thirsty, and the hassle began.

"Woah! That was so cool! But I bet Kakashi-sensei can still beat him!" An unmistakable overexcited voiced rang in my ears.

"Naruto, nobody bet on a fight between our senseis..." a drawl tried to reign in the blond menace.

I turned on my perch, recognizing the five lives I had felt before. Frankly, I had been so absorbed by the training that they had left my mind completely. The Hinokami No Mai was a bullshittingly complex shit to contain. I made it thinking of wide-scale destruction after all, even if training my control over it was still a great idea.

My three genins, along with Naruto and Sakura, had reached the center of the training ground, and from the wet clothes dirtied with mud, I could tell that both Naruto and Sakura had tried to water walk over the marsh, likely eager to show off that even if they had been disqualified due to external influence, they were just as strong as the members of team ten. Which was bullshit. Sure, short of killing Naruto, he just wouldn't stay down, both due to his Uzumaki blood and terrifying chakra reserves.

I flickered in front of them, causing Sakura to give a surprised yelp. My team was used to it and Naruto was keeping his eyes closed, pouting with a strange expression on his face for the missed opportunity of picking a fight upon who had the stronger sensei.

"Hello, ducklings." I smiled, receiving scattered answers from the genins.

I turned my head towards the two members of team 7: "First thing first, I'm Daiki, calling me sensei is fine, shutting up and listening is better."

My no-nonsense attitude caused Sakura to straighten her back and Naruto to put up a... suspicious attitude? _I can't be bothered to actually care._ I realized.

"Team 10, on the water, warm up and sparring, no jutsus." I dictated, and my team obeyed, picking up on my need to organize the other two.

"You don't know how to walk on water." I stated, "It's simple enough, you only need..."

"No way! Teach us that awesome white-fire-twister jutsu!" Naruto interrupted me.

I blinked, more surprised by the dumbness of the act than offended by the lack of any form of respect.

"Naruto! You need to listen to Daiki-sensei!" Sakura punched him on the back of his skull almost faceplanting him on the mud. Which was impressive, by the way. But at least we had reched a point in the timeline in which Sakura no longer used the -baka suffix. I choose patience over bitchslapping him into submission.

"Thank you Sakura." I smiled. "All and every jutsu are better executed with a higher chakra control, Naruto you get away with spamming kage bunshin randomly because of your vast reserves, but what will happen if you have to fight on water? And trying to perform the Himokami No Mai with a chakra control lower than the one of a med nin would likely shred your head away from your neck, with shards if your spine flying around and kill your teammates." my tone was cheerful and deliciously mocking of his positive attitude.

Sakura turned a bit green, and Naruto took a step back, paling. I nodded appreciatively.

Orochimaru didn't have the time to mess up with his seal, so his chakra flow shouldn't be impaired.

"I'm guessing you already know how to tree-walk." I started again, enjoying the silence brought by Sakura's punch. And more or less quickly, I explained how to perform the exercise before going back to my team.

I watched them spar with a critical eye for a couple of minutes before jumping in, throwing a kunai towards Shikamaru's head, swiping away Ino's supporting leg when she was about to lunge and bumping my hip against Choji. The first noticed something coming at him from one side and bent forward, turning his step into a leg-sweep, Ino slammed her palms on the water and used those to propel herself, while Choji simply rolled with my push, retreating and keeping up his defense. "If you are out of balance you may as well kill yourself. Good answers, Ino, Choji. Shikamaru, always retaliate with a flurry of something unless you are benefiting from a stranger throwing kunai at your head." I lectured.

Half an hour later, I noticed that Sakura had managed to walk in the middle of the river, albeit unsteadily, and was looking around, clearly too shy to call me over and not enough interested in Naruto to try and coach him. I reached her and gave her a series of drills, runs, jumps, push-ups. Basically, I forced her to use chakra from several tenketsus on her body. "Try to use the least amount necessary." I coached.

"Walking on water is used to gain better chakra control. To do this, the user has to be emitting a constant stream of chakra from the bottom of their feet and using the repellent force to walk across the water's surface. This technique is more difficult to master than Tree Climbing Practice, because of the amount of chakra that needs to be emitted changes constantly. If you mold it skillfully enough, like I am doing now, you'll skate, basically moving faster." I reached the other side of the river and started skating towards her.

"However you can 'explode' a certain amount of chakra to suddenly change direction." When I was less than fifty centimeters from Sakura, I turned sharply on my right, dousing her with a small waterfall. "If you get tired, go on the edge of the water and stretch, after 15 minutes go at it again, ok?"

"Understood, Daiki-sensei." Sakura answered, not daring to tell me off for dousing her.

"Hey," I added "cheer up! It is a very important skill to master, and you need to learn to do it without thinking about it."

I left her and skated towards Naruto, who was managing his first step but failing on the second. "Try to gather your chakra with a ram seal. Then focus, do not think about Sakura, nor about your team, nor about mine. Focus. The only way to learn this is with practice." I used a kind but decisive tone, and I was rewarded with two big blue orbs widening in surprise, before a determined expression fixed itself on Naruto's face. I nodded encouragingly and went back to my team.

"Ok, sit around ducklings, lesson time." I called them.

"By now you'll have understood that my training method is based on a casual dismissal of human limitations. That is because with chakra... well said limitations do not actually exist, so I want you to work smarter _and_ harder in your training." I started my lesson once we were all seated.

"What is chakra?" I asked, eagerly waiting for an answer.

"A form of life energy that all individuals produce to some degree." Ino correctly answered without missing a beat.

"True, but it's more than that. Not only individuals but also plants and beasts, even bacteria, have an infinitesimal amount of chakra." I omitted the senchakra because not only it was a blurry topic and I didn't want to deal with the headache of explaining what _actual_ life force felt like.

"It's an energy, shaped by shinobi through intent and hand seals in order to _do_ something_." _I gestured vaguely my hand.

"We already went over the various natural affinities, think of them as a... colored version of said energy, each with its own perks, flaws, and whatnot. And I already spoke to you about Yin and Yang."

I waited to see if there was a hole in their memories, but I was lucky: "A warrior should balance mind and body. Too much of the latter, and you become nothing more than a tool for others, too much of the first, and you become detached from reality. Now, training either mind or body does not change the ratio of yin and yang in your chakra. It's not about the ratio of Yin and Yang, it's about their quality. Before you were put into my care, your Yang oriented chakra was paper, now, it's a very sturdy wood."

"It's a common misconception to pick up and an easy mistake to make, but training the body does not mean increasing the ratio of yang in your chakra, and even then, how to train yin? How do you train the mind?" I continued slowly, seeing them frown to keep up with the highly theoretical discussion.

I looked expectantly at Shikamaru who, after a few seconds of intense concentration, answered: "Shogi?"

"Shogi is a way to do it, albeit an unimaginative and not very effective one. Like every table game, it teaches how to recognize and develop patterns. Which is great, and useful. It is something that forces you to _focus_. But I assure you, that your yin chakra grew more defined after I told you the story of the two brothers. Why?" I asked, looking at Choji, who had paled at the reminder.

"... it... it made us think... about who we are? Since you told us that Yin Release or Inton, is based on the imagination and spiritual energy of a shinobi?" The Akimichi slowly answered.

I beamed. Philosophy it's something that human can actually start thinking about once they reach 14 or 15 years of age, since their brains actually develop a way to properly process purely abstract idea. But in the narutoverse chakra was the great game-changer, so that when forced to, it allowed for things otherwise impossible. After all I could remember my life since I was two, and even then I knew about my previous one. Thought patterns and memories are respectively formed and stored with the formation of different neural connections. No way a two years old brain would be capable of holding my highly complex thoughts and extreme self-awareness otherwise.

"Exactly, Choji. It forced you to think, to move your thoughts in a way you would have never followed before. Your identity is the sum of your experiences, your experiences shaped your thought patterns, and as such your ideas and beliefs. Much like surviving hunger, pain and light poisoning increased the strength of your yang chakra when I tossed you in training ground 44." I continued.

"Do you know the Yin and Yang symbol?" I asked, when the three of them nodded quietly, still very focused on my speech, I went on.

"It's made in black and white, and people who don't live their lives, but let the time pass by them, are more gray than black and white. Let's say, the Daimyō likely has a very white Yin, and a dull dark grey Yang. That's because of whatever challenge he encountered he more than likely faced with planning and political might. He never suffered hunger, or burning muscles." I elaborated.

"A warrior should train both mind and body to the best of their ability, but when you must choose, train your mind. Learn how to think, understand how your thoughts impact your choices, see how those dictate your actions and predict how what you do affects the world. Like killing a missing-nin, or helping a fellow leaf nin who has difficulties. Like stealing from someone rich enough to not notice or helping someone you don't know." I lectured them, my eyes directing them towards still struggling Naruto and an almost exhausted Sakura.

"Why your face to face lessons are always a headache, Daiki-sensei?" Ino complained, gently rubbing her temples.

I smirked at her and chose to carry on: "History Time."

When they had recovered enough, I spoke: "There was a shinobi, a powerful one, Hatake Sakumo, also known as Konoha's White Fang. He was sent on an extremely delicate mission."

I saw them widen their eyes, clearly, having heard of the infamous shinobi.

"Long story short, he had to choose between saving his teammates or completing the mission. Knowing that failure would throw Konoha in the Third Shinobi War, and that _all_ of his teammates would die if he completed the mission, he chose to save them." I paused, taking notice of their conflicted feelings on the topic.

"He was despised, marked as a disgrace, hated, likely even by the teammates he saved. After all every shinobi would proudly give up their own life for the sake of a mission. But I bet that the families of Sakumo's teammates were happy that he chose his team over the mission." I concluded, before gesturing them to pick up their three-way spar once again.

"Sometimes," I added when they were standing "there is not right or wrong, lives are not something that has weight, the impact of our actions can't be measured with numbers." I shoot them a serious glance. "Food for thought."

I left my place and reached a nearby mangrovia tree, settling among its half-submerged roots and lighting up a cigarette. I already went through nature change, It was time to push my control with shape manipulation.

* * *

_19 April- year 13 AK_

I was sitting among the branches of a tall poplar, distractedly watching over the Inuzuka compound. In their courtyard, which was approximatively 500x300 meters large, Tsume Inuzuka was hammering into Kiba the proper way to use their clan techniques.

I sighed. I hadn't spoken to Tsume since Hana's death, there was really nothing to say, and that was without thinking of the sheer human disgrace that I thought she was for feeling better after I had killed Yugito.

With a tired sigh, I flickered over the wall that separated the street from the Inuzuka compound, immediately being noticed by both Kuromaru and Tsume. I waved at them and crouched, I was perched like some kind of vulture, but it hardly mattered. I only had to deliver a message.

Less than a minute later, I watched as the head of the Inuzuka clan left Kiba and Akamaru painting on the ground, trying to recover, and tilted my head as she walked towards me. _What if she has actually become a decent human being?_ I wondered.

"Tsume-san, Kuromaru-san, hello." I started with a bland tone, I wasn't good at interacting on a personal level with other people. Especially non-civilian ones.

"Daiki-kun, it's been years, I heard you were back but I never saw you around. And look at you! You have a team now, don't you?" She greeted me with a surprising jovial attitude, which indicated her having already come to terms with Hana's death. _Disgusting_.

"Do you remember Yugito Nii?" I asked, likely with more bite than strictly needed. I could be subtle and shinobi-ish, but I really couldn't be bothered.

Her eyes narrowed and her expression closed off, a low growl leaving her canine companion.

"Sabaku no Gaara is the same as her." I added before she could attack me for bringing up painful memories. "Only more bat-shit crazy. Make sure that your son understands."

Tsume showed me her teeth in what I assumed was a threatening motion, I blinked, the gulf between our respective abilities was so vast it wasn't even funny, so I was hardly cowered. "My son is a proud shinobi of the leaf, he will not disgrace the village by giving up."

"Did Hana honor Komohagakure by being slaughtered in Iwa?" I cut her off, the little patience I had evaporating fast.

"Did her meaningless death strengthen us? Because the only effect I see is the destruction of my former team, and our pain, Tsume-san." I retorted, forcing my voice to remain calm.

"Kiba doesn't have to die, and neither has to avoid participating, simply make clear in his eyes that a chunin recognizes when a battle is lost and retreats to attack another day." I pleaded her, forbidding myself from punching those canines out of her mouth.

She took a step back, her lips once more covering her teeth and the raised fur of Kuromaru returned down. "I'll think about it." She conceded.

I nodded and flickered away, my message sent. I only had to replicate the same with Kurenai and maybe bribe the proctor. Who was he again? Genma Shiranui or Hayate Gekkō? I couldn't remember. For the first time I cursed at my lacking social interactions with the shinobi community.

I went back to the training ground 11, a killer headache almost making it impossible for me to take notice of the orange mass of kids punching each other on the river, and of a pink-haired kunoichi skating on the water with sudden turns while reading the thick anatomy-tome I had provided.

I had left my genins to the care of their clan for today, so I was surprised when the Jiraya himself settled down among the branches of the big mangrove tree I was spying team 7' genins from.

"I'm guessing you are the annoying presence that has been spying on my training the other day?" I greeted him with a blank tone.

"Ah! Congratulations, I wasn't sure I had been spotted, but it's obvious, since you are an 'Actual Sage'!" He bantered as an answer.

I shrugged. "Is Sandaime-sama satisfied by my and my team' skills?" I distractedly asked, keeping an eye on Sakura, who had sat down on the mud and kept studying her textbook. Naruto had spammed a new batch of clones against which he was sparring.

"You have curious training methods." Jiraya diplomatically answered.

"I'm a curious person. Did you also happen to overhear my Yin and Yang theory lesson?" I asked, if the Hokage had sent him to either befriend or keep an eye on me I couldn't tell. But the reason behind his presence was obvious, and we both knew it.

"I've never been one for theory, and it was so difficult you almost killed your genins' brains, even if I admit that you managed to make it _less dry_ than sensei did."

_That_ was interesting. "Sandaime-sama actually sat down and explained this shit to your team?"

The toad sage barked a laugh: "Ah! Dear Kami, no! The Professor" and I could hear the love beneath the kind mocking of his title, "wrote a book on it, I never managed to read it until its end."

I blinked. "Uh, what's the title?" It would be nice to see if his understanding checked out with mine.

Jiraya gave me a strange look: "I honestly don't remember kid."

I arched an eyebrow: "Sure."

The conversation pretty much died then. An hour later, Naruto was still going at it, while Sakura was laid down on the water and kept reading, somehow engrossed by the dry tome.

"Did you gave her one of your books? Hey, what do you say if I give you one of mine? I'll even sign it!" Jiraya pathetically tried to rekindle our chat.

_Wait. One of my books? _I faltered for a moment, before realizing that Konoha's spymaster was more than likely to find out. That meant that the higher-ups knew, and Danzō along with them. My headache increased its hammering, talking with Tsume before, and dealing with big ass secrets immediately after was a killer cocktail.

I sighed, while the most difficult part in achieving my dream of living in a world that didn't send 5 years old prodigies to war had already been set up, Jiraya suddenly reminded me that I was far from being the top dog, and that I needed to find a way to kick Nagato Six Steps into the next week before considering how to face Kaguya's third son. _Fucking zetsu_.

"I read Tale of the utterly gutsy ninja." I informed him, skirting the topic of my books for the moment.

"Oh? My first work, not many know it." Jiraya beamed.

"I learned something from you." I went on, "When the Hokage ordered you to let Yugito kill Hana, and you obediently stopped me." My tone turned frosty.

"You had almost fifty years to build your dreamland. Because you believe it possible. Well, good for you, but in case you haven't noticed, faith do not change the world. Your actions, maybe, can. Your actions at my chunin exams clearly stated how much your nindo of peace is worth."

I turned my head toward the sannin, staring him in the eyes: "Everyone is quick in having faith in the next generation, I can understand teaching them your ideas, but betting on them? Why don't you do something instead of twiddling your thumbs? And what have you tried to change the world? Teaching other shinobi the stuff you've been taught. Great job it did, didn't it?" I kept my tone even, albeit a bit sarcastic.

Jiraya eyes had turned steely, his expression was unreadable. I sighed again, letting both my rage and headache simmer down: "I don't hate you, how could I? You've been given and shown hammers your whole life, how could you see any problem in any shape that does not resemble a nail?"

I shook my head. "Have you read The Matrix?" I asked him.

He frowned briefly, considering the non-sequitur. "The one in which everyone in the world is under a shared genjutsu?" He asked.

I nodded an assent. "What would you do if you were the only one awake? would you act like Cypher and ask to the Genjutsu Masters to be put under, or would you try to awaken everyone? Mind that people don't wish to awaken, the genjutsu is their life after all."

I looked at him tilting my head, not expecting him to understand what I had just told, but fucking hell I was tired of the Sandaime going all paranoid on me.

"As I said to my students, food for thought." I concluded.


	24. Third Stage

_18 May- year 13 AK_

The vast arena of Konohagakure no Sato was impressive, a little patch of forest here, a river barely a meter wide running on one edge, grass that had battled against an unwelcoming rock in the center. It was truly a wonderful example of an impartial setting, and the cloudy sky, while it was promising rain, shielded the crowd from the heavy touch of Hi no Kuni' sun.

Choji was sitting with his clan, enjoying the portable grill that had been set up in the area reserved to them.

His father Chōza leaned forward him, handing over a skewer he had just lifted from the grill.

He shot his son a knowing glance: "Are you upset because your sensei stopped you at the preliminaries and let your teammates go on instead?"

Choji shook his head, his eyes taking in the dozens of shinobis and kunoichis from Konoha' Clans amassed in their area of the bleachers. At least the ones that had managed to not be on duty on the day of the Third Stage. The numerous civilians rich enough to be able to afford a ticket and the various delegations from the Elemental nations were otherwise spread around, almost casually, but the Daimyō's delegations had been reserved the first rows on the stone bleachers on the other side of the arena. The genin scoffed. _Nobles_.

"Sensei told me I didn't need to spread my wings already, but that skills-wise, I am close to a chunin." the genin Akimichi answered. "He explained that in a straight fight between me and Gaara I would end up dead. It was a bad match up."

Chōza placed his hand on his son's shoulder, trying to reconcile the serious but largely unbothered tone with what he had just been told.

"It's okay dad, it only means that I need to get stronger." Choji grinned, slurping up the delicious meat "It's only a pity than uncles Shikaku and Inoichi are on duty, Shika and Ino are going to pull all the stops."

"Oh? You three have come up with new skills along with the families' techniques?" Cjoza asked, happily noticing that Daiki-sensei had kept training Choji even if he had to focus on his other two students.

"I'm not gonna tell, you'll have to wait and see." He smugly suggested.

Like Daiki-sensei had thaught them, Choji selectively listened to the Hokage introductory speech and the referee warnings, only picking up the key information. _No need to keep track of the bullshit around a simple sentence. Focus on facts, and how they hare expressed. The first will give you the context you'll need to work in, the second will tell you what is the position if the one reporting said facts concerning their context. _

Even while he was barely listening, however, his eyes lingered on the Kage's booth, where the diminutive form if the Tsuchikage was perched into his seat, and the Kazekage was there too, hiding his face beneath a white veil. He spotted Shino, Naruto, and Sakura near Daiki-sensei kōhai, Ten Ten, sitting near each other with both Guy-sensei and Kurenai-sensei. It was unfortunate that the Aburame Clan disliked crowds and rowdy places, forcing Shino to come to watch the third stage alone, but again, Choji would have loved to seat close to Daiki-sensei if only he could spot him. That man managed to turn everything into a lesson, and while Choji didn't necessarily enjoy the nightmare-inducing stories, he started to understand his reasons, and nobody could deny how much he had grown under his tutelage.

He shook himself out of his reverie to watch into the arena, where Neji Hyuga, another of sensei' kōhais, was staring down Shikamaru. Or trying to, since his teammate was hardly bothered by the harsh glare those pale eyes were inflicting.

Choji actually chuckled, before explaining to the quizzical expression of his father: "After surviving Daiki-sensei shell-shock treatment, intimidation isn't really the way to go about psychological warfare."

Chōza's eyes returned to the arena, his eyebrows suddenly rising on his forehead: "Is that..?" he guffawed "A Nara with a sword! Now that's quite a surprise! Shikaku will have a fit! Since when..."

"A wakizashi, to be exact. And since the beginning of the month." Choji answered before his father could complete his question, secretly enjoying the dismay of the Akimichi Clan's head. Nobody, it didn't matter how gifted, could learn how to properly use a blade in less than a month, at least not beyond distinguishing the handle from the steel.

The proctor signaled the start of the match, and the once lazy Nara hastily retreated, flicking several smoke pellets in front of himself. Both contestants soon enveloped in a thick purple-gray cloud.

"But that's..!" Choza frowned, before noticing Choji's smirk and replicating it.

Neji retreated, an arm in front of his mouth to try and not breathe any more poison than necessary. Sadly, the first lungful, enough to inform the Hyuga prodigy of the nature of the smoke, was also enough to heavily impact his ability to stay awake. "Nobody ever said that Shikamaru actually used the wakizashi." Choji smiled.

Neji stood in the middle of the arena, slightly wobbling on his feet, but exercising every silver of his will to stay awake. Shikamaru emerged from the smoke with a scarf tightly woven around the lower half of his face, the fuinjutsu on it working overtime to seal away the poison and letting the air pass through. It was a selective-storage seal, kept in function by the Nara, who kept feeding chakra to it, effectively filtering the air. Fuinjutsu was awesome.

Neji wobbled on his feet some more, and fell to the ground, the poisonous gas overcoming the natural resistance of a body with an active chakra network with relative ease.

Chōza looked at the Nara heir, a belly laugh bubbling out of him. It was a rare thing seeing genin who never experienced war use misdirection in such a way. Shikamaru, bringing a sword in the arena, had declared that he was ready for a melee, successfully tricking the proud Hyuga.

"Even a Kage can die of carelessness." Choji quoted, clapping loudly while the proctor declared Shikamaru the victor of the underwhelming fight.

The following match was soon called, Kiba landing in a crouch after having jumped down from the genin booth, while Sabaku no Gaara made his entrance with a dignified and slow walk, his killing intent washing over the Inuzuka like a wave, with his face a blank mask.

When the referee gave the start, Akamaru dashed in a wide arc around the redhead, Kiba mirroring him on the other side, raining kunai with paper bombs attached to the hilt one the Suna genin.

Gaara did not move, he didn't even blink, his eyes following the shinobi, clearly classified as the bigger threat. The sand rose from the uncorked groud in a thick wall wich swallowed Kiba's probing of his defenses.

Then Gaara _smiled. _His chakra skyrocketed, the sand swirling around himself and digging into the ground,

Kiba bounced back, running along the walls of the arena until he had regrouped with Akamaru. Once he had secured the dog, he ran another lap on the wall, his rhythm irregular, dodging and avoiding the crushing waves of sand, often by less than an armlength.

It surprised everyone when he shouted: "I surrender!"

The referee immediately yanked the Inuzuka out of the arena, somehow the man seemed to know that Gaara wasn't going to stop.

Somehow, the killing intent let out by the Suna genin managed to grow even more.

"Why is he clutching his own head?" Choji wondered. The redhead looked almost in pain, but he managed to drag himself back into the genin booth, the sand he had so terrifyingly wielded fell on the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, while some of it returned into Gaara's gourd, corking itself inside.

Choji looked at his father, who had a dark frown on his face. He knew that frown, he was the same he had assumed after he had recounted the genjutsu Daiki-sensei had thrown his team in on their very first day. The young Akimichi kept his observations for himself however, knowing that if and when his father wanted to share his thoughts on the matter, he would.

Soon it was Lee's turn, facing the strange Iwa kunoichi that apparently had spared Shino's team during the second stage.

The girl looked around 15, maybe 17years old, was dressed with her country colors and had a dangerous looking katana strapped at her side.

"LEE!" Choji snapped his head in the direction of the sound so quickly that he almost gave himself a whiplash: Guy-sensei, who had been Daiki-sensei's senseis ( and Choji was glad that his own teacher hadn't picked up anything beyond skill from him ) was standing, his hands resting on his hips and chest bulging outwards: "TAKE THEM OFF, LEE! IT'S TIME TO SHOW THE POWER OF YOUTH!"

Choji shuddered a bit. Looking horrified, the image of his own sensei doing the same briefly flashing in his mind before being shut down and hidden somewhere deep in his subconscious where it would never come back from.

Willing himself to focus on the match, erasing his surroundings from his senses, trusting his father to keep an eye out for possible dangers.

He watched with curious eyes as Lee shot back in the genin's booth and returning, his orange leg warmers suspiciously absent, revealing white wrapping around his calves.

Choji looked at the genin booth in time to see Ino shouting: "You're much manlier without the orange, Lee-kun!" he didn't need to see Shikamaru to know that he had pinched his nose, having taken up the mannerism from their sensei.

Choji looked again in the arena, seeing that Lee was... _preening_? under Ino attention. The young Akimichi guffawed.

Lee took his stance: an arm bent behind the small of his back, his weight on a bent leg, while the other was straight, ready to be used as a strange single meteor-hammer.

His opponent had a suspiciously slumped stance: the katana, no longer secured to her waist, was still in its scabbard, held limply in her left hand.

When the referee gave the signal, Lee vanished from sight, only to reappear in front of his opponent, a straight kick slamming with the force of a rolling boulder on the surprised Iwa kunoichi.

Choji quickly circulated chakra through his coils, enhancing his senses and becoming able to actually follow the movements in the arena. He wouldn't manage to reach those speeds anytime soon, but at least he managed to _see_.

Kurotsuchi was wielding her katana ungracefully, almost using it like a mace or a baton which, considering it was still sheathed, was exactly what it was.

Lee's kick impacted with the katana held by both arms of the kunoichi.

Kurotsuchi sported a grin, and _heaved._ Lee was hurled back, all his momentum absorbed and countered.

He closed in, a haymaker closing in on her face. She tilted sideways, her leg jabbing at the calves of her opponent and the katana slamming like a mace on Lee's raised forearm.

She spun, one hand letting go of the scabbard to shot forward with her fingers extended, her sharp nails, clearly treated with some toughening nail varnish, trying to cut away Lee's eyes.

He bent backward, his right hand clamping on her wrist and tugging her out of balance.

Then she escalated the fight: taking a step forward to avoid having Lee sneaking under her center of gravity, she shaped her chakra. No handseals, no words, pure nature manipulation. The ground under Lee softened, just enough to reduce his leverage, before slamming her katana against the unprepared genin, who jumped backward, performing an impossible number of backflips and taking again his initial stance.

Choza looked at his son with surprise etched on his face: "You can see their movements?"

Choji grinned, not taking away his eyes from the fight: "Technique and skill will not help you if you can't see the opponent, if you're slow, you're either a tank or dead. None of you is strong or old enough to be a tank right now. So suck it up." He quoted.

Choza snorted, and was about to reply when Guy's student shot forward again, only to be met by a sudden wave of lava.

He distanced himself, running in a circle. He was a taijutsu user, period, meaning that either he faced his enemy in close quarters, or he ran circles around them to tire them. Ninjutsu was a demanding branch of the shinobi arts, not only chakra-wise, but also mentally. Especially when using elements that could backfire spectacularly.

During his second lap around the arena a hand shot up from the ground, grabbing Lee's left foot.

He didn't even notice. He ran away so quickly, that the fingers around his foot crumbled into dirt. It had been a tsuchi-bunshin, likely sent underground under the cover of the lava ninjutsu.

That spoke a lot for the mind behind the pink eyes of the Iwa kunoichi. From her place in the center of the arena, she shot again towards her opponent, the scabbard left behind, and using her body to hide the telltale gleam of sharp steel.

She stopped in front of Lee, the katana drawing an upwards arc in front of her. The green-clad genin twirled on himself, the blade grazing his black hair, ruining the perfect bowl-shaped haircut. He stood inside her guard and levied a haymaker at the kunoichi's head, only to be intercepted by a forearm encased in stone.

_When did she have the time to do that? _Choji frowned, before smiling widely when a **crack **resounded in the arena.

The stone had been sturdy enough to protect her bones, but not enough to resist Lee's spectacular strength with impunity.

Kurotsuchi began to wield her katana with her left hand only, her right ready to grab her opponent. She snapped a punch to Lee's throat while swinging her blade to keep away the dangerous kicks of Lee.

However low kick to the shin was enough to unbalance her, quick as lighting, Lee's hands shot forward and clamped the armed limb of his opponent.

Instead of twisting or trying to gain leverage against the green-clad genin, Kurotsuchi let her katana fall, embedding itself in the ground.

Without a single second of hesitation, she jumped, her left foot landing lightly on Lee's right tight and her knee slamming solidly against his chin, hurling him back.

The Iwa kunoichi blurred through handseals, whispering too low to be heard.

A second later, Lee dodged to the left an attack that never came.

Kurotsuchi took up her katana once again, leisurely walking towards her target.

Choza smirked. "That isn't your common C-rank genjutsu." he said, earning himself a confounded glaze from his son.

_Why does he sound proud about it?_

Lee kept twirling and dodging, occasionally punching empty air, until Kurotsuchi came close enough.

While undoubtedly trapped in an illusion, Lee wasn't pulling his punches, he wasn't predictable, and as such Kurotsuchi was waiting for an opening.

Lee twisted out of the way of an attack nobody but him could see, and Kurotsuchi lunged forward with the katana.

Mid-twist, Lee sidestepped and was immediately inside of the surprised kunoichi's guard. Crouched on the ground, his right foot slammed under her chin, both his legs snapping straight, while his fingers plunged into the articulation of her wrist, forcing her to abandon the sword.

Instead of following her flying figure, Lee straightened his back, crossing his arms in front of his face, his muscles tightening. Bringing them at his sides like his hands were tied to an impossibly heavy weight, he thundered: "Kaimon, Kai!"

Immadietely after, he grabbed the katana, and with a potent movement of his shoulders, he embedded it up to the hilt between two of the square stones that constituted the wall of the arena.

Then he became a fucking whirlwind.

"He pretended to be trapped in the genjutsu. Smart." Choji nodded.

"The smart part is choosing to leave behind the katana as bait instead of pursuing her. Guy truly has surpassed himself with him, he deflected the flat of the blade every time, look, he hasn't been cut once." Choza corrected him.

Choji had completely lost sight of him, he reappeared for brief instants.

The scarier thing? The Iwa kunoichi was keeping up.

When a punch clipped her on the shoulder, she exploited it to twirl on herself, her hands forming handseals.

When she was facing Lee again, her cheeks bulged before she spat a bucket of lave from a point blank range.

Faster than ever before, Lee _pushed: _"Kyūmon, Kai!" and disappeared from the Iwa kunoichi, only to reappear on the other side of the arena.

Kurotsuchi charged, a half Tiger seal held in front of her mouth as she spat balls of lava like they were confetti.

None came even close to land on Lee.

Twenty seconds later, he retaliated: righting himself after having ducked, he flung a pebble he had caught from the ground.

It flew faster than should have been possible: behind it the force of the whip-like movement of his arm, the fluid power of his shoulders rotating, the complex mechanism of his pelvis and all the leverage his legs managed to exercise on the ground.

When the pebble impacted the following ball of lava, it _exploded_.

Then, maybe not so surprisingly: "Seimon, Kai!"

Kurotsuchi had just lost the advantage of a long distance battle. Every shot of lava that she spat exploded less than three meters from her, and after the first two, she was forced to keep an eye out from the projectiles Lee was hurling back.

Suddenly, "Konoha Senpuu!" and the whirlwind was on the Iwa kunoichi: a veritable rain of kicks, punches, knee and elbow thrusts.

Three hits so heavy that they would have broken bones, four that came as light as a breeze, then again, in an irregular pattern. Without thinking, she classified the blows in base of their target, their strenght, and the follow-ups that they would allow.

Kurotsuchi defended those hits that would have brought the fight to an immediate end, tanking the others. A kick aimed at her head landed heavily against her shoulder, she defended against a powerful punch targeting her throat with her forearm, her defense cracking but not breaking, a knee thrust that would have shattered her ribcage found only the tightened muscles of her abdomen, earth natured chakra enforcing her body.

She tried to maneuver for space, but Lee could not be denied. She had no time for handseals, no time to flicker away, no time for her eyes to find a target for a kawarimi. No time, no time, no time, no time.

What she had working for her, however, was experience. After the initial freak out at having a kid only a year out of academy dominate her in close combat, her mind had turned calculating. She never outright blocked, knowing that his hits held enough strenght to crack stone,

Then her eyes widened: _Here_.

A flare of doton chakra swarming the ground while the genin was in one of his belowed Konoha Senpuu, changing its consistency.

When he landed, his right foot sunk, forcing him to bring down his left in order to kick himself out of the trap.

However, his left leg should have been swiping at the midsection of the Kunoichi, keeping her away.

Kurotsuchi closed in, her left hand coming in a wide hook.

Lee didn't think, his torso bent forward, his arms and hands reacted to the grievous mistake like they had been trained to do. Right hand on her elbow, left on her wrist: twist and crush.

Dislocated wrist and elbow joint, linear fracture on the humerus, ligaments of the shoulder strained.

It was then that her right arm, encased in stone, fell on his vagus nerve.

Le crumbled on the ground, out cold. Kurotsuchi hissing through her teeth.

"Rock Lee is unable to continue!" the referee declared.

"That girl is a ringer." Choza grumbled.

"What?" Choji whirled on his father, tuning out the crowd and the _very _loud Naruto.

"She does not specialize in taijutsu, what does it tell you?"

The young Akimichi turned on the arena, seeing the Iwa kunoichi walking towards the med nin on stand by, her left arm swinging limply at her side: "That Lee managed to force her... she wanted to beat him at his own game, didn't she?"

The Akimichi clan head nodded gravely: "She has left behind her katana. That's another message: I don't really need or use that blade, I brought it only to show that I could."

"Sensei told us he had met her at his chunin exams, five or six years ago. She was ten-ish then, and she never participated again, she's the Tsuchikage's granddaughter." Choji recalled.

"It happens that the brightest of their generations are held back, just to be showcased in the exams, your sensei is a sharp one, he reminds me of Shikaku sometimes, with a stubbornness that could match a mountain." the older man sighed.

"We can only be grateful that she chose to show that she is so superior that she doesn't need to kill her opponent." The Akimichi Clan Head frowned.

The referee called the next match, both the genin that had just competed being treated by the med nins.

The crowd wasn't going to stop shouting its approval anytime soon. Onoki's granddaughter had just won in a taijutsu exchange with a taijutsu specialist, while showcasing, along with Yoton, a precise and effective control over earth natured chakra. She showed off kenjutsu, before discarding it without a thought.

More than that however, she gave up an arm to overcome the enemy. It indicated a level of quick thinking and planning far from common.

Several minutes later, Ino made her way in the arena trembling, her hands desperately clutching a couple of knives. If Choji hadn't known better, he would have thought she was scared for the impending conflict. A sly grin made its way on the young Akimichi's face.

Then the feathers fell and Choji dropped back in his seat, asleep.

Half a second later, the situation became Fucked Up Beyond All Reason.


	25. FUBAR

I was standing on the arena's outer walls, my body hidden under a standard light brown cloak and my butterfly-Anbu mask hiding my face.

I suspected that such a mask had been chosen as some sort of punishment towards poor old me.

Among the other things, being in sage mode places your chakra network in a state of extreme saturation: in short, unless it's another sage performing it, genjutsu just do not stick.

That was why, when the big ass genjutsu hit the arena and worked as a signal to the invasion to begin, It took me a second to recognize the reason behind why people suddenly started dropping asleep.

I had my orders.

For all that I believed the Sandaime to be wimp wristed when dealing with his students ( cough "Nepotism!" cough ), he had known about Suna's plans for weeks.

The fact that Kabuto had managed to escape Anbu before any serious interrogation was carried through had been orchestrated to perfection.

I didn't know the specifics, but it was clear to me that his escape had been ordered by the Hokage only to reassure Orochimaru that his plan was still running smoothly despite my intervention in the Forest of Death.

I did not doubt that several soldiers had been thrown at Kabuto only to sell the fact that his escape wasn't organized by Konoha's higher-ups. But such was the life of a patriot in the Elemental Nations.

From a tactical point of view, I could understand, feign ignorance of an attack and then turn an enemy assault into a striking victory.

My skillset had been deemed the best to face Rasa, since Suiton could easily slow down his golden sand, turning it into an even better conductor for my admittedly limited Raiton knowledge.

I didn't know what roles the Sandaime and Jiraya had, but I suspected that Sarutobi was to face Onoki in case he revealed himself to be allied with Suna and Oto, while the Toad Sage was to hammer down his old teammate as soon as he slithered out of the rocks.

It was unfortunate, but Orochimaru's skill in wearing other people's faces made it impossible for me to sense him.

I had known the Kazekage was the Snake Sannin in disguise, but only based on my previous knowledge, which was revealing itself more and more wobbling as the years went by.

Surprisingly enough, it had been Kurotsuchi's act of kindness to clue the Sandaime towards a possible betrayal from Iwa. I wanted to believe she had simply chosen to follow the lead I had provided during my chunin exams, but in the eyes of the Kage, it was suspicious.

After all, didn't I spare a child only to kill a jinchuriki immediately after?

I crouched for a second, my heart started beating again, and with a push, I barreled through the arena, slamming into Orochimaru disguised as the Kazekage, and pummeled us both to the warehouse right behind the Kage's booth.

Basically, I had become a human bowling ball with sticky hands. I had slammed my hand on Orochimaru's face and slammed us both through the stone walls that separated us from our designed ring.

Distractedly, while I was passing, I felt/saw/perceived Sarutobi deliver a butterfly kick on Onoki, skyrocketing him towards the extensive training grounds of Konohagakure no Sato.

I took off my Anbu mask, letting it fall by my side, and started acting as a shepherd for the dozen of tsuchi bunshin Orochimaru had hidden amongst.

His first action was obvious, a kawarimi is easy to detect, and not extremely fast, unless performed with a clone. Somehow, swapling yourself with a mass that held a dose of your chakra made the techniques several times faster.

In my first years, I had wrongly believed the Kawarimi to be some form of space-time ninjutsu. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It was the equivalent of a rail gun.

The why still escaped me, but the hand signs for a kawarimi created a circular flow of 'force' which had as diameter the distance between you and the target you were substituting yourself with.

Somehow, at the sides of the circular 'force' flow, it developed two circular rails of chakra. They were as thin as a hair, and went in opposite directions, acting like rails in a rail gun.

Only, instead of shooting yourself forward, the technique propelled the user along the circular pattern, attracted to the side of the object you were kawariming with, and repelled by the side you weren't facing.

The same happened to the object you were kawariming with.

It created a sort of circular particle accelerator in which you and the object you were kawariming with were the only particles. It was fast.

It explained why one couldn't kawarimi with an object with a higher volume than the user unless dumping a shitload of chakra to enlarge the distance between the two chakra rails.

Somehow, kawariming with something alive ( read with flowing chakra ) didn't work, because of their being alive clashing and breaking the chakra rails.

The passive nature of plant life was apparently enough to allow a shinobi to swap himself with a log. I still had to figure out why every exchange happened in a clockwise spin... But at least I knew that the first step for the Kawarimi was the same for the reverse summoning, your body and the one of your target became 'chakra'. Or some ethereal substance that felt like chakra but was something completely different. I had no clue.

And if there was a mass imbibed with your own chakra, the kawarimi resulted faster because the two chakra rails that defined the path of the technique were there as soon as one thought them.

I believed the chakra of the user somehow resonated with the tsuchi bunshin, but experimenting that shit to check my theories had been difficult.

Kage bunshin didn't work as a target to swap with, because they were pure chakra.

Chakra was magic, maddening and marvelous, and knowing its inner workings as I did, allowed me to pinpoint Orochimaru's swapping as soon as the rails started forming.

Anyone with sufficient experience in chakra sensing could feel the circle that acted as a track. I was also fast enough to anticipate the Snake Sannin.

He _hissed _in rage and flared his chakra in a very specific pattern once he noticed the ANBU closing in.

His four lackeys wasted no time and immediately I witnessed the purple barrier rising around us.

I felt him form a new clone and I smirked when I felt the telltale shaping of chakra into a kage bunshin.

I Ignored it and kept closing in on my real opponent, not giving him any occasion to take a breather.

"A kage bunshin, really?" I asked, an open palm strike skyrocketing him into the raised part of the roof.

"Kukuku... insolent child..." He hissed, and I ducked under an impossibly fast jab from the Kusanagi.

Then I felt it.

A twist in the chakra behind me.

_A summoning._ I realized.

I didn't have time to curse, but 'Shit' was my first thought.

I turned on myself, my hands blurring through hand seals and my chakra turning heavy, solid and unyielding I slammed my foot on the ground, aiming to the three coffins Orochimaru's kage bunshin had summoned.

I had an idea that the third one was Madara already, so I _really_ wanted to keep them closed.

"Iwayari!" ( stone spear ) from the ground under my foot three spears made of rock rocketed towards my opponent, acting as a nail on the coffins.

At least, one did.

The Tsuchi bunshin I hadn't bothered with before stopped the others from reaching their target.

I was about to charge ahead when I was forced to throw myself aside to avoid another deadly jab from the divine sword, Orochimaru was using it like Ichimaru Gin from Bleach.

I knew that the first thing to do was to take away Orochimsru's toys. _Luckily, I was prepared for this. _

I placed my fingers in a familiar cross-shaped hand seal and summoned a Kage Bunshin before returning my whole attention to the original Orochimaru.

I dropped in front of my opponent like a meteor crashing on the ground. The reinforced roof of the warehouse almost gave in under the force that I had exercised over it. I lashed forward with a knee thrust, my right hand clenching over the wrist holding the Kusanagi no Tsurgi like a hydraulic press. The bones under my fingers were reduced to a fine powder, while the parry hastily executed by Orochimaru's leg saw my knee break his fibula, the energy behind my blow carrying over the rest of his body.

Something moved behind me, I dropped low, my hand never leaving the wrist of the renegade sannin, and twirled on myself. My free arm coming on my second opponent in a backhanded punch strong enough to shatter rocks.

My eyes recognized the fucking Nidaime Hokage, who had jumped back, far enough to avoid the senchakra surrounding me from landing a blow. He jumped forward, trying to slam a kunai through the weak point of my armor. Before he could reach me, I used my momentum to slam Orochimaru on him, using him as a make-shift wooden club. I heard ligaments tearing along with muscles and saw Orochimaru's shoulder getting dislocated. Immediately, my free hand clamped near my other one, and with a grunt signaling my effort, I twisted and tore the hand holding the Kusanagi from its original master before flinging him away.

Then the wood slammed into my back, trying to spear through me. My toughened skin turned the lethal attack into a very strong push. _I'm a motherfucking Sage, bitch!_

Instead of using chakra to stick on the ground, I let myself being flung away.

I was no swordmaster, and keeping the Kusanagi in the game was plain stupid. I brought the sword over the summoning contract tattooed on my arm, and channeling chakra into it I whispered: "Kuchiyose no jutsu." sending the divine blade to the Elephants.

I was still spinning mid-air, and I adjusted my arms in order to balance myself and land on my feet.

I was upside down with an outstretched arm when fucking Hashirama, of all people, targeted me.

He grabbed my outstretched arm and moved as to snap it, sure of his target, since pulling away my arm would bring the Shodai on my face and I couldn't push him away.

Then a spiraling blue sphere formed into my hand and ground away from the Shodai's torso, blowing him away. I landed safely, Rasengan in my hand, and glanced on my opponents.

My clone was busy burning all the results of the Mokuton, the white-hot firebird flying everywhere the Shodai attempted to attack with his unbelievably overpowered signature element.

Orochimaru shed his skin and emerged from his own mouth, an enraged expression on his face, while the Nidaime charged me while Hashirama was busy rebuilding its destroyed body.

The Katon-futon hybrid technique directed by my clone flew over us in that moment. From the lower of my back, I unsealed a scroll as tall as me and tossed it towards the body of Hashirama, before reaching with my chakra to the Hinokami and taking control of the technique.

My clone left it to me and, grabbing the scroll I tossed, immediately set himself to seal away the Edo Tensei of the Shodaime Hokage.

In the space of a heartbeat, Tobirama closed half of the distance that had been separating us and the Hinokami flew to me, warping itself in a tight spiral that joined my Rasengan, which went from being a blue football-sized sphere to twice the size of a basketball, looking like the sun, red and yellow, with occasional elliptic bridges of white-hot fire continuously sprouting and collapsing on its surface. My chakra surged forward to keep it contained, stabilizing the crazy difficult jutsu.

Tobirama brought forward his hands in a ram seal and inhaled, ready to blast me with a single seal 'Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu' (Water Dragon Bullet) and I shot my hand forward, holding my wrist with the other one, carefully balancing the chakra output and overcharging the jutsu as much as I could: "Senpō: Hinokami Saigo no Uta!" (Last Song of The Fire God).

Then I could only hear the otherworldly solo made of howling wind and crackling fire, over a soundtrack of melting tiles, vaporizing water, and dismayed scream of Orochimaru. From my hand, an over-glorified flamethrower engulfed the side of the roof occupied by my still active opponents, developing in a growing cone, the jutsu swinging between white and blue.

Tobirama had turned his attack into defense and rose out of nowhere his Suiton: Suijinheki (water wall).

My jutsu couldn't care less.

The water burned, oxygen and hydrogen doing nothing to slow down the last song of the fire god, which burned to ashes the Nidaime Hokage with the same carelessness of a civilian flicking away a mosquito.

I couldn't direct the flame in the way I could direct the technique in the Hinokami no Mai, all the control I had over the inferno I had unleashed was dedicated to keeping the jutsu from backfiring. Orochimaru had dodged the first bout of my technique, but the evergrowing flame washed over the barrier and almost behaved like a liquid, rebounding against it and spreading in a wave.

I felt my clone walking behind me and tapping the armor at the base of my back, unsealing the second giant scroll I had prepared. "Hashirama is sealed and sent to the elephants. I am almost out of juice, I'll do the same with Tobirama, then you'll be on your own until the other one of us dispels."

With my sage enhanced sensing, I felt Orochimaru moving in the ground we were staying on, trying to sneak his way to me in an ample circle. I cut down my jutsu, leaving my clone to hide with the scroll until there was enough of the Nidaime to be sealed away and turned towards the incoming threat.

I wasn't eager to face Orochimaru without Sage Mode, so I had to stop throwing ninjutsu around like confetti.

I slammed my foot in the ground, senchakra disrupting the renegade Sannin's technique, forcing him to abandon it.

I ignored the several Tsuchi bunshin that emerged from the ground, frankly, I doubted that they were able to actually harm me. I was on my opponent like a landslide, my right arm shot forward in an open palm strike, the concussive force behind it enough to generate a low boom when it impacted the chest of my opponent.

I whirled on myself, ignoring the now destroyed clone he had kawarimed with and I lashed out with a sweeping high kick, that he leaned back to avoid.

It wasn't enough. The natural energy surrounding my body hit true, and the snake summoner was flung back.

I dashed in pursuit, the memories of my clone suddenly swarming my brain and informing me of the Nidame's successful sealing. The tiny silver on unused chakra returned into my coils, I thoughtlessly formed a Rasengan and slammed it into Orochimaru's head.

Again, he had crumbled into dirt, and suddenly, Sage Mode left me.

I darted away, creating a kage bunshin and immediately dispelling it, my other clone should have been able to tell if I was no longer in Sage Mode, but I wasn't willing to risk it.

I kept moving feeling blind and deaf in comparison to my previously enhanced senses.

"Are you running out of juice, Daiki-kun?" the mocking voice of the Snake Sannin reached me.

I refrained from rising to his bait, any idiot with half familiarity with chakra sensing could tell the difference between my previous Sage-state and my sadly... mortal one.

Even if I was far from defenseless, I had exactly 0 experience with dealing with other S-rank. I was an exceptional jonin, and in sage mode I could barrel through almost anyone, uncaring of their rank.

Facing Orochimaru without what was definitely my trump card, was unwise at best and woolish at worst.

The duel had lasted almost twenty minutes already, but it felt like a lifetime.

Out of the purple barrier, the Snake Sannin's lackeys had wasted no time in raising, I could recognize the flashes of Onoki's signature jutsu and Jiraya running circles around the giant sand tanuki, giant toads in the distance dealing with giant snakes.

My eyes never left my opponent form, and I had never been more aware that at the end of the day, my S-rank was a one-trick pony.

I frowned, distractedly taking notice of finding other ways to apply my repertory of skills. I needed to be an S-rank without Sage-mode.

Oh well, no moment is better than the present. I thought.

"How does it feel?" I asked.

And when the snake sannin stopped to tilt his head sideways I continued: "To have a nineteen years old take away your toys one after another?"

The Snake Sannin smiled, his poisonous yellow eyes landing on mine, they were flickering, like the edge of a fire, like...

I fluctuated my chakra violently, breaking through the genjutsu and already feeling another layering itself over my coils.

I flexed my muscles, reading myself for the effort I was about to face: "Keimon, kai!"

The Gate of View broke open, and I felt like a giant coil had sprung in my stomach, making me flinch at the unsteady and turbulent flow of chakra in my coils, but I felt the three genjutsu Orochimaru had sneaked in break apart, like spider webs cut by an avalanche.

The surrounding bodies of water, a legacy of the Nidaime and mine' previous Suiton techniques exploded away from me, generating a wave that slammed against the purple barrier and ripped apart the tiles of the roof.

I watched Orochimaru with a tight, unimpressed expression, a green aura started settling around me.

I noticed his fascinated expression, and the curiosity of the consumed scientist pick apart my technique.

"Fascinating." he hissed "You opened the sixth, bypassing the first five, no..."

He smiled widely, not bothering hiding his curiosity, and likely banking on the fact that I was on a time limit.

"The difference between you and before isn't great enough... no..." He continued, I steadied my breath, lowering my barycenter and bringing back my right arm, my hand clamping close in a fist.

"You were already using the first five?" He speculated, guessing the truth without difficulty: "But your chakra was stable..."

When I smirked, he laughed: "Don't tell me! You perfected it! No longer a kinjutsu, but a technique all with enough training and skill can master without repercussions! Daiki-kun, it's outstanding, you surpassed your sensei at such a young age..."

And now cones the recruit-spiel. I dryly thought.

"Akai Tsubu." (Red Grain) I whispered.

My legs straightened and I was in front of the Snake Sannin, my right hand crashing through the air and setting it on fire before landing in the middle of Orochimaru's chest.

He was propelled backward, his feet instinctively digging through the tiles to avoid being swept away.

I jumped ahead with a twenty-degree angle from the ground, I cartwheeled in the air, my right leg coming down on my target, my left still pointed at the sky.

"Tsukirakka!" (Falling moon) The axe kick set the air on fire and exploded on my enemy.

When the Snake Sannin managed to parry the blow, his arms encased in stone making my right foot slide off him, I brought down my left leg, completing my movement.

"Nichibotsu!" (Sunset) My left heel dug into Orochimaru's guard, breaking it and burrowing him through the reinforced roof of the warehouse.

I followed without hesitation, eager to run through him.

In the dimly lit warehouse, the Snake Sannin laughed: "Kukukukuku..."

Who the hell actually laughs like that? A brief thought flashed and disappeared into my mind.

"To think one of my creations would grow so strong... but it's no wonder, with your genes..." The Snake Sannin hissed.

"What?" I couldn't believe he would choose this moment to reveal what was surely a tragic backstory.

Not that I actually cared. I distractedly realized for the first time that I couldn' t care less about how I came to be into this world. Maybe knowing that the multiverse was real made the idea of being the result of an experiment into another reality easier to accept, maybe I simply was no longer a functional human being.

"Kukukuku... you must have wondered who your parents were..." he hissed from somewhere to my left.

I didn't lower my guard: "People live, people die, my parents likely ditched me for one reason or another, I don't really care."

"Oh, but you're wrong, Daiki-kun... soo wrong..." he hissed again.

"Say what you want to say, then I'll punt you through the floor." I said "Again." I added after a brief pause.

"Kukukuku... you never noticed? The similarities are all there to see after all..." He continued tauntingly.

"From the ease through which you use the Rasengan, to your ridiculously high water affinity..."

"I am a sort of DNA mesh up from the Yondaime and Nidaime? Yeah, pull the other one." I rolled my eyes, even if my mind was running faster than Naruto could say 'Ramen'.

I already knew there was a relationship between a body and its soul, after all, the Edo Tensei somehow created a corpse from the DNA of someone.

It could make sense that a body made from DNA of already alive (like the yondaime was when I was born) and dead ( like the nidaime was when I was born) and some fuinjutsu tossed on the side would pull a soul from another dimension.

Tenzō had his own soul, but he was created to be a clone of the first, but with the face of a random kid from the clan of the people that turned into smoke if I remembered correctly, so maybe...

"But you know it's true..." he hissed again.

At that point, once more I regained perspective: "So what?" I asked.

"Let's say it's true, why would this sudden revelation stop me from killing you?"

"Kukukuku... don't you want to know the secret behind your birth? It's clear to me that Konoha can't help you become stronger, you already surpassed them all, they will only hold you back..." he whispered, tempting me with the 'Sasuke-standard-pack'.

I pity I couldn't care less: I closed the sixth gate, regulating my chakra flow and stabilizing it again.

"Kukukuku... I knew you would see reason... cone with me, I can make you the greatest this world has ever seen..." The Snake Sannin came into the dim light that shone through the hole in the roof.

I closed my eyes, my clone dispelling itself, and gifting me with his memories.

* * *

_When I felt the Boss started moving, I ran across the village, my destination clear._

_I was suppressing my chakra as much as I could, the kage bunshin equivalent for tenketsus contracted to contain my presence and making sure nobody was the wiser._

_The blank mask I was wearing allowed me to see without impairment of any kind, and the light brown cloak that hid my figure was perfect for my task._

_I flickered through the village, carefully holding back my chakra. Even as a clone, I wasn't used to having the Kage Bunshin's equivalent of the Gates closed._

It is what it is. _I thought grimly._

_I reached the Sarutobi compound with little difficulty, and, carefully looking around, I waited, using the least amount of chakra necessary to cloak myself into an illusion._

**Booom**.

_The paper bombs I had placed around the construction site nearby went off. Those, along with the smoke rising from another building and the wildly fluctuating chakras of Boss, Sarutobi, and Jiraya, clued in everyone that something was very wrong._

_The dozen or so chunin stationed in the area where clan resided, started following the standard procedure as soon as the alarm __was raised._

**Code yellow. Code yellow. **_The speakers placed strategically around the village started shouting._

_I shot forward and quickly reached the western-styled wooden door of the Sarutobi compound._

"Fuinjutsu is such a bitch." _I muttered under the mask. _

_Without hesitating, I slapped an unfurled scroll against the door my invisible fingers knowing what to do only thanks tho the proprioceptive one reached with years spent doing hand seals._

_The inky characters spread on the wood, and in less than fifteen seconds of lockpicking, the door was open._

_I closed it behind my back and ran through the house, spreading my senses and taking in what _should _and _should not _be there._

_I roamed a little library that clearly doubled as hone-office for the Sandaime, my eyes scanning the rows upon rows of scrolls and books, picking a few and setting them on one side._

_My hands landed on a big blank scroll, upon which I carefully drew three storage seals at the opportune distances._

_Every book I had never seen before found itself on a pile on the first inky circle._

_The unknown scrolls found themselves on the second one._

_With a light application of chakra, the two piles of _pure golden knowledge _were sealed away._

_I sat still for a few seconds, sensing around me, the seals securing the compound were like a golden web to my senses._

_Each thread was thin and frail, and yet bright._

_I roamed to one side of the library, sliding out the Monkey Summoning Contract._

_I tilted my head, considering my options, before shrugging and placing it against the summoning contract on my right arm: "_Kuchiyose no jutsu" _And with an application of chakra, it was gone._

_I opened my eyes, walking to the center of the web and smirking when I found myself in the Kitchen._

_I opened a cabinet and removed a false panel using a kunai as leverage, before sliding out a massive scroll._

_I recognized it from both the anime and the manga, I unfurled it, taking in the first technique described: _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.

"The theory is a bit raw..." _I muttered, but set it apart nonetheless. I did not doubt that the Hokage had wanted Naruto to learn the Kage Bunshin, otherwise, he would have never found it, and sure as hell he wouldn't have had the time to learn it. _

Now, how do I know it's the original? _I mused. _Boss would chew me out if I were to pick up a fake.

_I searched the house carefully, unfurling every scroll that gave me a reason to suspect it important. _

The need to have the compound Konohamaru-friendly greatly reduces the lethality of the traps. _I grinned to myself, taking notice of the sheen that covered a doorknob, showing the contact poison that covered it._

_I opened the door with a chakra scalpel, finding myself in what I supposed was the armory of the Sarutobi compound._

_I unfurled the giant scroll I had previously prepared and added a storage seal: moving in it the several scrolls that described a weaponed variation of the '_Monkey Fist'. _Not that I need it, but I am beginning to feel the cleptomania sinking in._

_I watched the unfurled scroll, grinning in reading the kanji for _Stolen Books Stolen Scrolls Stolen Giant Scroll _and _Stolen Taijutsu Scrolls _in the middle of each circle of characters that bled one into another._

_I furled close the giant scroll and leaned it against my right arm._

_With an application of chakra, I whispered: _"Kuchiyose no jutsu."_ sending the big ass storage scroll to the Elephants._

_I then proceeded to place everywhere the stack of paper bombs Boss had provided me with, standard issued by a Supplies Shop in Konoha with the largest clientele._

Not that I ever bought from them._ I reminded myself._

_I sat still for a minute, carefully circulating the smallest amount of Senchakra within my coils, replenishing the admittedly lower reserves of my kage bunshin existence._

_I felt Boss clones dispersing, their memories a confused jumble across my senses._

"I wonder why I never kill myself for shit and giggles when I am a clone. Ir why I don't try to kill Boss." _I muttered. _"Like Hugh Jackman in prestige..."

_I performed a familiar cross-shaped seal, giving birth to a single Kage Bunshin who sat down and started meditating, still and indifferent to the passing of time_, _and dispelled myself._

In this way, the boss will deal with my memories before the Senchakra... _I thought._

* * *

My other memories flashed quickly in my head, and I classified them without problems.

"So Daiki-kun... what do you say to my generous offer?" the Snake Sannin asked.

Then my chakra exploded.

I channeled the senchakra without issues in my once more calm chakra network, and I felt it soothing and strengthening my sore muscles and taxed ligaments.

My hands formed another cross-shaped seal, a kage bunshin appearing behind me and unfurling a giant scroll from a seal on the back of my armor.

My arms fell like twin axes on Orochimaru's wrists, the sheer strength and weight of my chakra enough to cut through.

Before he could react, my right hand clamped on his neck, and with a light hop, my feet crushed his kneecaps.

_Isometrics, gotta love them._

"I don't know if you can survive in a storage seal written for reanimated corpses." My clone said while my left hand forced Orochimaru to keep his mouth shut.

"But I'm willing to try." I concluded, jumping back in time for the scroll to _eat_ the Snake Sannin.

"Go with him to the elephants, see what they are willing to do." I ordered my clone.

"Well, he _has the _knowledge, and our contract is knowledge for knowledge, so..." my clone shrugged, reverse summoning himself and my last opponent.

_Now, to sell his death..._

I took all the senchakra I had left, changing its nature, molding it, folding it and storing it in my tenketsu, _again._

_Again._

_Again._

I repeated the technique three times, feeling the exhilarating pain against my chakra coils.

It was simple, really, fire and air, separated one from another by a tendril of neutral chakra.

Then I let it go, the air churning in a merciless twister around me, taking in everything which wasn't nailed down, and soon even the shelves ruptured and were flung around.

After all, there was a very simple way to destroy the unbreakable barrier from inside.

The weak point of the technique, like always, was the user.

Then, with a single ember, I let go of the second part of the technique.

"Hinokami no Tanjō." (Birth of the Fire God ) I whispered with reverence, pouring all my leftover chakra in the technique.

And all I could see was fire.


	26. The plans of Mice and Men

_The sun was shining brightly on the training grounds, the creeks and the light breeze singing quietly a mourning tune for the fallen during the attack, happened weeks before ._

_I met with my team, and I gave to each of my genin a scroll in which I had listed exercises and whatnot to help them train themselves_ _"The only thing war decides is who is left." I stated, observing how Choji seemed to take it at face value, Ino frowning lightly, likely trying to string together what I said with the other lessons that I gave them._ _And Shikamaru was... _studying me pretending to be bored? Oh, kid. _I was amused._

"_You've never been at war, you were too young for the last." The Nara objected._

_I snorted: "Wars are all the same. They begin under the direction of a few people, too prideful or narrow-minded to do anything else."_

_I__ rose from my seated position: "When war begins, the people who order it ignore that, no matter how right they feel, they have no idea about who is going to die. They don't know whose children are going to scream and burn, what great dreams and futures are going to be snuffed out before they have their chance to shine, because the only ones to know the price of war, are the futures cut down along with those that would have birthed them."_

_My tone had turned from serious to frosty: "Nobody knows how many lives shattered, to never be mended, because those in charge never considered doing at the start what they will end up doing at the end: sit down, and talk."_

_I__no frowned, sensing that I was actually furious_: _"Sensei... You talk like this war wasn't in the working since the last one ended."_

_She shook her head, the illusions she believed into as a child had been shattered with their first wet work. Shattered by me, by my stories, by my stubborn and careless decision of making sure the next generation would see using chakra as a weapon like it was the dumbest thing ever thought._

_"At the end of the day, sensei, we are shinobi." Choji continued her train of thought: "We will protect our families, our teammates, and by extension, our village._"

_I__ shook my head lightly, the Akimichi may have been the kindest of my students, but somewhere along the way, I turned a kind man into an angry one. Another failure to add to my list of sins. I thought tiredly._

_"The only way anyone can live in peace, is for everyone to be prepared to forgive, and we all should be the change we want to see in the world." I answered quietly, before clapping my hands and recalling my ducklings to order._

_"You got your exercises, Choji, Ino. Shika, walk with me for a bit." I stated, and started walking alongside the little lake, taking in the gentle ripples the breeze was causing on the water.__"Anything you wish to tell me?" I raised an eyebrow, not bothering hiding my smirk. __The young Nara tsked: "So you noticed? Troublesome."_

_"__You're five years too early to lie to any jonin effectively, and... Shika, not to brag, but I am a motherfucking Sage, it grants me more than simple chakra sensing." I snorted._

_Shikamaru sighed, his shoulders slumping ever so slightly: "Uncle Inoichi asked a lot of questions about your lessons, he wondered if I could try and figure out if..."_

_"If I am a traitor of some kind?" I asked with a smirk. __The young Nara grunted, if in agreement or not, I couldn't tell._

_"My unconventional lessons had only one purpose, can you guess it?" I asked "And by unconventional lessons, I mean most of our 'story time'."_

_The once lazy genius crossed his arms, his light frown deepening: "... prospective."__I didn't bother in hiding my grin: "I wanted to see if I would be able to make you see the world without the rose-tinted glasses of propaganda, yes."_

"_So we are an experiment to you?" He bit back, already knowing my answer. __I shrugged, his indignation meant very little to me: "The Sandaime ordered me to teach, without a doubt to get a reading of some kind on me."_

_"Why the hell would the Hokage put to risk the heirs of three of Konoha's most prominent clans under someone he didn't trust?" Shikamaru proved himself quick on the uptake._

_"Risk is a big word. I couldn't afford to half-ass your training because you were the heirs of three of Konoha's most prominent clans, Shikamaru, I taught you to see the bigger picture. You have all the clues you need, and I'll answer your questions, but make the right ones."_

_I reprimanded him._ _He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, and after a minute he asked again: "Why would the Hokage need such a roundabout way to get a 'reading' on you?" But from his tone, I knew it was a rhetoric question._

_"You've never given any kind of doubt regarding your loyalty to the village, otherwise we wouldn't be talking..." He reasoned out loud: "and we talked about perspective..."__I nodded, encouraging him to keep following that logic train._

_"How did you develop an impartial point of view in the first place?" he wondered then._

_I grimaced, it was a good question, but it wouldn't lead where I wanted him to go, so I tried another route: "What do you think makes us human?"_ _He raised both his eyebrows and his expression went slack in surprise, tilting his head to my non sequitur._

_"And what actually is human progress?" I asked again.__"Do you know why Hashirama founded Konohagakure and dragged humans in the Age of Hidden Villages from the Age of Warring Clans?" I asked suddenly, I demanded an answer to that last question._

_"Because he wanted to protect the young who otherwise would have been forced into war at 4 years old?" Shikamaru answered with the first thing that popped into his mind. __I nodded mockingly: "Oh, yes, so that instead of using children as meat shields we now have five years to grind them through the academy. He revolutionized the world to give children five years during which they could dedicate their efforts to learn how to better kill other children." the sarcasm was heavy in my tone._

_Shikamaru gritted his teeth in annoyance but didn't rise to my bait.__"Try again." I told him, and I was no longer his benevolent teacher, but the merciless hammer that had crushed Orochimaru, I was the weapon that the world we were into had forced me to become.__"...He went beyond his clan's rivalry with the.." he tried to answer._

_"Hashirama founded Konohagakure because he could." I cut my student._

_"Thereby strengthening his clan and making it wealthier with the system he..." Shikamaru tried to defend his answer.__"Do you actually believe he founded the village, captured and gifted biju around for money ?"_

_Shikamaru frowned: "I'm guessing in that way he reduced the risk of clan children starving, and provided a fortress were shinobi could actually feel safe, a place where scientists and whatnot wouldn't be assaulted in the night and be killed after having their research stolen..."_

_I__ snorted.__"You would measure human progress by the advancement in technology or the ever-growing monetary flow?" I asked sardonically._

_"In that case, why don't we sterilize some clan children and sell them to the higher bidder when they are still under one year old?" I shook my head patronizingly._

_"The progress of any form of society is measured through the value attributed to the lowest of its components. That civilian who got drunk and drowned in its puke in that alley two days ago, an unimportant life, a life without privilege. The life of the akasen that disappeared in the night and got himself signed up for the academy in exchange for a rice ball."_

_I grabbed Shikamaru's shoulders with an iron grip: "The value of those lives, it's your value. That is what defines an Age, and That is what defines a species. If I failed to teach you anything else, I hope I managed to teach you this."_

_"What was that talk about the ones in charge not knowing what the price is..." He started, prodding for a reaction._

_Like I had always enjoyed doing, my answer was far from any he could have expected.__"Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, it makes one a tool for the knowledgable."_

_I was clearly referring to Choji, who had translated my lessons in 'annihilate threats to the ones you love'._

_"And knowledge without integrity is dreadful and dangerous, making one alone and prone to madness." Orochimaru first example, and I acutely feared the more... the feral side I had forced Ino to accept when I tossed her into the Forest of Death, so many months before._

_She knew a basic truth: in the end, humans are very effective animals, but animals nonetheless._

_And so she came to classify other humans in three categories: prey, fellow predators, and enemy predators. At her core, she had regressed from a cheerful and empty fangirl to a deadly, calculating predator. Inoichi had likely noticed something along those lines, it was understandable why he disliked me so much._

How did I ruin Shikamaru, I wonder?_ I couldn't help but ask myself._

_"And when this war will be over, the world once more remembering the might of Konoha, what then? Do our leaders know how it's going to turn out? How it's going to be like? What weapons and techniques are going to be discovered and spread during this conflict? What nightmares are going to hunt the next generations?" I wondered out loud._

_"At the end of the day, Shikamaru, the ones who order war are a child throwing a tantrum, and they do not know what they want beyond 'more power' or 'stability' or my favorite: 'the last war to end all wars'." Finished my little monologue, I ruffled his hair, undoing his pineapple knot and granting myself an annoyed grunt.__"Good luck Shikamaru. We'll probably see each other on the field." Once that I said my piece, I walked briskly toward my yurt, I had a few things to pack and preparations to finish, because in less than a week, I would go to war_.

I awoke with a start.

"I remember that conversation." It had been part of the discussion of Hypothetical Situations I had forced my team to go through.

But not that way. That was a chat we likely would have had in case of a declaration of war, but twisted along with my fears and insecurities, and I didn't need to be from another reality to see that Iwa presence at the chunin exams had shot canon out of the window.

_Am I going mad?_ I distractedly asked myself before taking in the wast Planes where the Elephants roamed. I looked at my companion, tall less than a couple of dozen meters tall.

The small (for its species) summon was eyeing me curiously, his tusks gleaming of a shiny red, but he didn't comment.

I ignored him for now, he would become much more talkative once he chose I was doing something interesting.

_Maybe I am only having visions of what would have happened if I stayed at home._ I thought, jumping slightly non my place and eating a mouthful of berries.

I would need my energy. _I can only hope my back up plan works out._

I eyes mistrustfully the three scrolls sealing respectively the Shodai tge Nidaime and Orochimaru, before letting my gaze trailing over the Kusanagi and the Monkey contract.

My eyes stopped on another big ass scroll. In there, there was my first step towards an S-rank that didn't depend on Senjutsu.

"First thing first." I said, claiming back the wavering attention of the red elephant.

"Zoukatatsu, we need to study the Scrolls of Seals, and figure out how to tweak an active Edo Tensei."

* * *

SHIKAMARU

* * *

_21__ May- year 13 AK_

The room smelled of bitter medicines and ammonia, likely the result of an excessive zeal put into disinfecting the environment.

_I never liked hospitals. _I realized.

Not that ever needed one, I just know, that a time or reality in which I did not feel uncomfortable roaming the white halls could never exist.

I nodded to myself, content that my brain had explained my chosen words, before turning my head to my bedridden teammate.

Leaning heavily on my brand new crutch, I reached for the foot of the bed and took out Choji's papers.

_Broken left fibula, broken right ulna, five lower right ribs broken, dislocated shoulder, concussion, punctured lung, shredded left trapezius._ I read in my head, my eyes darting from each word to the wound it listed.

I sighed, at least there would be no long term repercussions.

I didn't know why I kept checking on the list, it wasn't going to shorten itself anytime soon, but somehow it grounded me.

It made it easier to ignore the thrumming pain in my left leg, if nothing else.

My chakra whirled abruptly, random checking for genjutsus and brushing over Choji's dimmed presence. He was stable, his slow, deep breaths reassured me, even if his own chakra didn't react to mine in the slightest.

_"Chakra sensing has two faces." Daiki-sensei explained._

_"The more obvious one, is receiving an echo of an active chakra system. There are a multitude of techniques for feeling that, the easiest one is having a chakra control developed enough to recognize the impressions that an active chakra system unconsciously imprints around you."_

I remembered frowning at his explanation. I could understand a shogi match, the hidden measures behind the Wind Lord economic choices with the same ease I breathed. But putting together the wishy-washy half poetry sensei used to explain the inner workings of chakra had always been difficult.

_"The other face, is showing your chakra to someone and gauge his reaction. Very few can mask such a reaction, because it's buried deep into our genes. Its the growl towards a new menace, the whimper that signals surrender, the roar of victory." Daiki-sensei had explained._

_"Wouldn't flaring your chakra in that way alert everyone to your presence?" Ino asked._

_"It's not chakra flaring." Daiki-sensei shook his head "But yes, anyone you used this on would feel your chakra, and their brains would go through synesthesia to associate these persons to an idea which identifies them. It's personal and unreliable, but impossible to mask."_

_"I don't get it sensei, can you, for once, not use riddles?" I had snapped._

Sensei had chuckled, chuckled! Like there was anything funny about it.

_"It's like showing your face instead of offering your papers." Choji had butted in._

_"Yes! It's a good way to put it, well done Choji!" Sensei had beamed._

"It's just my luck that I would figure it out only now..." I sighed.

"Figure out what?" A raspy voice asked.

I turned on myself, flaring my chakra again and relaxing immediately when I recognized the person that had startled me.

"You shouldn't be talking." I reprimanded her. Ino was limping through the door, a brand new crutch for her too, something to match her bandaged eye and the sling in which her left arm rested.

She rolled her eyes, before twisting her chakra in a familiar pattern.

_I can talk a bit, you know, and my voice will return to normal in a couple of weeks. _the voice I would always recognize as my more nagging teammate resounded in my head.

"That doesn't mean I have to suffer it." I smirked, hastily retreating when I saw Ino taking a threatening step forward.

She calmed immediately in seeing Choji: _I__'ll take this shift, go home Shika, you stink._

I surrendered immediately, we both knew the other wouldn't relent on this: "Send someone if..."

_Go, Shika._

"Okay, okay." I uffed "Nagging woman."

_I'll never thank sensei enough for having beaten the 'troublesome' out of you._

A sharp tang of pain-loss-lost-distance rippled through her chakra, drowning the moment of levity we managed to share with the dark certainty that was plaguing the days after the 'Betrayal', how the villagers had started to call the coordinated assault brought on Konoha by Oto, Iwa, and Suna.

"They didn't find a body." I repeated her for the umpteenth time.

"You felt that jutsu." Her raspy voice accused me.

"Everyone felt it, it was half a kilometer tall pillar of fire and wind. That stuff cooked alive the four that kept up the unbreakable purple thingy. It means shit, I'll believe him dead when I see his body." I shook my head "And then I'll just chant 'Troublesome' until he comes back from the dead to dope-smack me."

With those words and the uncertain ripple of relief across Ino's chakra, I limped out of the room, heading back to the Nara compound.

Doing twelve hours long shifts was possible only because of our wounds, that squarely placed us on leave.

I watched the destroyed buildings being rebuilt and the people shuffling around, shinobi and civilians alike.

Half of the academy students' time had been redirected to help moving rubble, their curriculum had turned in something much harsher than what I had endured when I was in their place.

It had been three days, and something was hanging in the air. Like everyone was sharing a secret that they did not dare utter out loud.

I spotted veterans with missing limbs taking up administration posts, freeing our able chunin to do whatever.

I looked to the artisans' district, measuring the thick clouds of smoke against what my memories supplied.

_They are bigger_. I realized immediately.

Nobody was saying it out loud, but I could tell, everyone could, really.

Yondaime-sama had spared Iwa after his overwhelming victory, and now they tried to strike back? Allying themselves with our previous ally and Orochimaru's village of all things.

I distractedly heard a man whisper something about Tsunade as Godaime, the way his feet were placed made clear that he was a shinobi.

_"Once you see the propaganda, you can't close your eyes." _Daiki-sensei voice echoed again in my head.

Konohagakure no Sato had turned into a very different beast from the one I had grown up into.

_Is sensei alive?_

_Is it on orders?_

_Sensei went toe to toe against Orochimaru and the first two kage, what kind of mission would necessitate him off the grid?_

Something did not make sense in my head, it felt like a pebble in the sandal, or a slightly askew painting.

There was something wrong, and it felt like an itch in my brain.

"Read the books written by our fallen hero! Just a week ago, the Publishing House of the Rising Sun had us know that every single one of their books had been written by Daiki-sama himself!" A man shouted from a small bookstore, a giant poster of sensei's writing hung above the door.

_Yeah. Okay, sensei is alive. _I deadpanned silently. The fucker likely had foreseen the awesome advertisement his heroic death would grant to his works.

_I'll have to tell Ino._

I reached the compound and my family's home without anybody else to interrupt my thoughts.

Soon enough, I was in my room and fell on my bed.

_Fuck futons, those are for people that do not enjoy sleep._ I thought distractedly.

I sunk my face in the pillow, letting the darkness claim my sight.

I was bothered, for what was likely the first time in my life, I had difficulties in falling asleep.

Then I felt it, there was something under my pillow.

I slid my hand under the pillow and rolled on my back, taking out what appeared to be a leather-bound book, not particularly thick, with a single sheet of paper that somewhat stuck over the edge of one cover and onto the other, making it an obstacle that had to be tore in order to open the book.

My nose flared, taking in scents and whatnot, recognizing two contact poisons immediately, along with the smell of blueberry ink.

I blinked.

_Sensei had us build immunity for those two poisons..._

A memory came unbidden to the forefront of his mind, sensei used that ink when he hid a message among false ones for my team to find.

I fell into my well practiced routine, I shaped my chakra, feeling it _fall behind_ _and below,_ with that sensation that would be absolutely alien to anyone but a Nara, and I wrapped a tendril of shadow around my broken leg, thin threads shooting to the ceiling and helping me move myself to the edge of my table.

My eyes never left the slip of paper, where thin lines of ink were showing themselves.

_"At its core, Fuinjutsu is somehow taking something, and placing it somewhere else, before taking it back in some form." Sensei was explaining.__"Sure, the basic concept is easy enough to grasp, but there are a shit ton of reasons why not everybody and their mother can do anything beyond a simple storage scroll." he rolled his eyes. __I watched him with interest, my mind had been enjoying the seals he had me memorize, and I still had no idea _why _they would do what they did._

_"The key, is language." Sensei said, and gone was his usual carefree expression, he had turned serious and cold. It unnerved me, it always did._

"Language?" I repeated to myself out loud.

The characters slid one over another for a second, and the paper crumbled into ash.

I felt my eyebrows shot upwards and for a second I felt cold, then the first cover followed the suit of the piece of paper that had kept it closed, crumbling and letting me read the first page.

_He worded a lesson we had months ago to have me open this book now. _I speculated, my brain hammering on the coincidence too hard for me to ignore it.

* * *

Shikamaru, next time, check your bed _Before _jumping on it, carelessness kills.

Each page will fade after twelve seconds, memorize each one.

What follows is for your eyes and your eyes only.

* * *

The page crumbled, revealing the following one.

* * *

The Sandaime Hokage had his memories sealed away after giving me my orders, placing their secrecy above S-rank. If such a rank officially existed, it would be SS.

In short, the next Kage must not be made aware of my actions.

* * *

I felt my eyebrows trying to jump off my forehead and run for the hills.

The page crumbled, and what I assumed was a shitload of state secrets started writing itself on each following page, my eyes burning each word into my mind.

Distractedly, a part of me was realizing the sheer Troublesomeness of the situation, while another held back the titanic migraine that was trying to kill me.

* * *

_2 August- Year 13 AK_

The room was dimly lit, why, I had no idea, but the people in it were of the dangerous sort. Mitokado Homura and Koharu Utatane were sitting at the sides of the one and only Shimura Danzō.

Seated at the long table, there were Tsunade Senju, who was laid back and sipping some sake, Jiraya himself. Kakashi Hatake was reading his smut without any kind of shame, an Anbu in a black mask with a dragon pattern, who I believed was the Anbu commander, and Shikaku, master tactician and whatnot.

I sighed, being summoned by the higher-ups in what looked like a shady meeting was Troublesome with a capital T, and I was acutely aware that Shikaku wasn't my dad, not in this setting.

The real question was why I was sitting at the same table. And why half of them were just sitting there without doing anything, and the other half squabbling over bullshit of every kind.

I coughed heavily, dragging several eyes on me. "Excuse me, but why am I here?" I asked. "I'm not really one of you higher-ups..."

Jiraya laughed out loud: "Ha! He has his sensei spunk, I like him."

"The reason is irrelevant, we will ask questions, you will answer." Homura explained in a blank tone.

I narrowed my eyes, they had let almost a month pass since the Betrayal, they _clearly_ didn't call me to discuss a strategy on how to react.

_Or did they?_

_Why they are acting then?_ I wondered.

_Shit, is this the war council?_

_They want to__ see what I am capable of, tactics-wise._ I concluded.

My reasoning had taken less than two seconds, so I rolled with it.

I chose to cut the pleasantries, my eyes trying to gauge their reactions, even if I was aware that I would only be able to see what they wanted to show.

"This is a war council yes?" I asked, building up momentum. At their nods I went forward, guiding the conversation.

"Or at least, a mock-war council to see if I had half a brain to go along with what the Jonin Commander told you." I amended.

Dad snorted, and it was dad doing it, not the jonin, while Jiraya let out a delighted laugh and Tsunade smiled sharply at me, before downing another cup of sake.

"Firstly we account our pieces then." And I turned towards Tsunade: "Which is the condition of Sandaime-sama?"

She grunted, giving me a harsh glare that didn't affect me at all. We stared at each other in the eyes for several seconds, finally, she moved her eyes away.

"He died a week ago." She answered, "But we kept it quiet, high morale and whatnot."

I nodded gravely, hiding my surprise and keeping silent for a second in respect of the man.

_How the hell did sensei know? Well, he didn't know, he listed it as a highly likely, but still..._

"What's your opinion on who should serve as Godaime Hokage?" the gravelly voice of Shimura Danzō brought us back on track.

_Do they want my opinion? What can they hope to understand about me based on my preference?_ I frowned.

"Strenght-wise, the next Kage should be Guy-sensei." I said with a deadpan tone.

Jiraya spluttered, Kakashi giggled (not perversely), Tsunade coughed, her sake going down the wrong pipe.

Danzō simply raised an eyebrow, clearly asking for an explanation.

"Daiki-sensei always said that Guy is the strongest since the Sage of Six Paths." I said confidently, an image of him with shit-eating grin flashing in my mind. "However, I don't think he has the... temperament, to be a Kage."

There was some random chattering about my answer, and even some shaking heads, but it soon faded. I rose from my seat and started walking in circles around the table, my arms crossed and a frown on my face.

"Sandaime-sama granted us a victory, removing Onoki from the picture. The logical successor, is Tsunade-sama. She can keep running Konoha and hammer our med nins into shape." in my mind, I refused to use sama, but out loud it was strictly necessary.

_I really want to kill Danzō before he can go all power-hungry, but with a war on our doorstep..._ I thought about my following actions carefully, comparing what sensei had written in that bullshit book of his.

I kept my eyes washing around the room, my footsteps echoing across the room.

My mind was running furiously, stringing together tactics and adapting them to what I knew first hand from the world I was living into. _How does Root fall into this?_

I fluctuated my chakra wildly, randomly checking for genjutsu: "Now, Suna is in disarray, Chiyo will probably hold together their council, we should either leave them alone and cut them in the moment they cross the borders, or hit them and instate a puppet as their Kage after having pacified the country."

"We do have two of the Kazekage's children in our cells." Homura offered me.

I blinked, taking in the information and rolling with the other things I knew.

"Is Gaara one of them? Is he... saner?" I asked.

Jiraya grunted an assent: "I wrapped him up after sealing back in the Ichibi, his sister too is in our cells." he informed me.

"The Wind Lord will likely keep sending work our way. I voice for the second option, unless someone has a peaceful way to deal with Suna?" I looked around hoping in an answer. Nobody said anything.

"I will take care of it." Danzō uncharacteristically offered. I nodded in his direction. He was a sneaky bastard, but we were really short on capable people, and sensei believed that in case of war I could trust him to be unrelenting against the outsiders.

Jiraya raised an eyebrow: "I played around with the Gaara-kid seals, he's better, but it will take some time."

Tsunade butted in: "The girl isn't S-rank material." she explained to me.

I shrugged, not that I actually cared, but considering the shit most S-rank shinobi were capable of at sixteen, she would likely never reach the fabled rank.

Hell, considering the shit Daiki-sensei was pulling, he was redefining what the rank meant.

Besides, every jinchuriki ended up S-rank, a kage _had_ to be S-rank, so it made sense to bet on the Gaara. Sure, betting on him meant to brainwash him in a sappy friendship-bond between Konoha and Suna, but I was past caring at that point. And we could keep the other as hostage of some kind.

Danzō's eye reached again the toad sage: "There will be resistance, I'll deal with the clean up before the jinchuriki is ready."

Nobody missed the light hostility that oozed off from both Jiraya and Kakashi, my chakra turned _scorching,_ heating me considerately and making the air out of my mouth waver. Fire natured chakra would never stop surprising me. Easy to create, difficult to contain, easy to direct, impossible to tame.

"Iwa will more than likely put Onoki's son at the rudder, peace with them is out of the picture, and while Kumo gained a bloody nose during the exams, not managing to place a single one of their genin in the third stage. Still, they won't lose the opportunity to hunt for some of our clans. The Raikage has an obsession for the Byakugan and other of Konoha's bloodlines." I went on.

"Well, that's all nice and dandy, but we can't cover every front with our numbers, they'll swarm us." Jiraya butted in.

"We need Kiri." I nodded, looking at the map of the elemental nations: "As you know very well." I added looking pointedly at my father.

"What do we know about the hidden villages which are not part of the great five?" I asked, looking for ready numbers to throw into the equation.

"That they don't like the major hidden villages." Kakashi pointed out. _At least he had put away his smut._ I considered.

"They'll side with the more likely winner, they have a council made of the Heads of their clans, but it translates to a single upper-tier jonin calling in the shots." Jiraya helpfully elaborated.

"What do we do about Ame? If Hanzo chooses to move he'll cut through regular shinobi like they were grass." Shikaku reminded us.

"Ame will not move." Danzō said.

_Everyone_ narrowed their eyes and stared at the one-eyed, bandaged bastard. _Stay the fuck away from Ame. _I recalled Sensei's words from the black book of bullshit.

"Kiri is in the middle of a civil war, the Yondaime Mizukage is the Sanbi jinchuriki and is leading his people against the bloodline users. Konoha has a lot of those. If he wins we'll be alone against the great Four and whoever they'll manage to rally behind them. Meaning everyone." I quickly spoke.

_Everyone_ looked at me with open curiosity. "How do you know of this?" Shikaku asked, his lazy attitude vanished.

"Sensei used to chat foreign politics with me." I simply shrugged, it was even mostly true.

"We don't have the resources to enter another country's civil war." Danzō shot me down.

I brought my hands in a steeple, crunching through plans and countermeasures.

"The resistance is being led by Terumi Mei. She holds two bloodlines." Jiraya seriously said, clearly enjoying going against the elder. _What is he, a child?_ I rolled my eyes.

"Placing a puppet in Suna is one thing, but Kiri ninja are notoriously xenophobic, if they smell a puppet they'll fall on our backs like a ton of bricks." Shikaku pointed out, "And organizing a country that is just out of war is a nightmare."

I looked at him for a long moment, then dropped the bomb: "We need a small team of bloodline users to place Terumi as the next Mizukage, or at least help her achieve her title. Elders, could you write down some kind of treaty? It's really not something I'm capable of."

Tsunade snorted, if it was because of my carefree admission or the fact that I had blatantly thrown a bone at them, I couldn't say.

"One does not simply walk into Kiri." Tsunade drawled, in such a perfect imitation that I couldn't not ask, a grin sprouting on my face.

"Have you been reading my sensei's books, Tsunade-sama? he would have been flattered." I asked.

She put down her jug of sake, it was curious how much she suddenly reminded me of Shin.

"He is the one who wrote the Lord Of the Swords?" She asked bewildered.

"Yup." I nodded happily. In that story, an Iwa blacksmith had forged the 'eighth sword' to dominate the seven swords of the mist, and the only way to destroy it was tossing it into a volcano in Iwa. I had read it, finding the final confrontation between Frodo and Gollum strangely insightful.

"He used a lot of pseudonyms. If a book fails to sell he would drop the author's name, you see." I explained.

"Returning to the topic." Homura cut in, bringing us back to the problem we were facing. "Not only how do you plan to reach Kiri, but how do you plan to find the resistance?"

"Kakashi's team fought the wielder of Kubikiribōchō in their C-rank, put its restitution into the treaty, in exchange for something we don't really need, so we can pretend we are gifting it back in good faith." I informed the elders snapping my fingers suddenly, as I had just remembered about it.

"And I was kind of hoping they would be the ones finding the ones we send, we are really pressed for time, so we can't exactly enact guerrilla tactics, we need to be flashy and show them why siding with Konoha is the best option. So... I was thinking Jiraya-sama could go barreling through their border?" I finished with a question that almost sent Jiraya rolling on the floor in laughter.

"Bold." Tsunade nodded "And it will most certainly kill him, but Kami knows I'm tired of having him around."

"Goddamn brats these days..." Jiraya mumbled saddened.

_How __is her reaction my fault? _I wondered.

"Still, neither Kumo nor Iwa have made moves to jump us, I still disagree with the general purpose of this council." Jiraya had stopped laughing and had intervened with a somber voice, staring at me without wavering.

I raised an eyebrow in the direction of Danzō, hoping that he would tackle it. _I know this is all a farce to see how I react, but do I have to?_ I almost whined in my head, my eyes finding Shikaku, or at least the impassible mask he had put on.

When the one-eyed bandaged bastard remained impassible and _everyone_ looked at me for an answer, I sighed.

"War is bad for my sensei's side-business, of which I inherited a cut after his death." I shrugged. Music, games, books and restaurants were hardly going to have an easy time during war.

"But even so, Konoha hosted Chunin exams during which Onoki died along several nobles sent as representatives from Kaminari no Kuni's Daimyo." I tilted my head.

"There will be retaliation, if only because Konoha broke the treaty or looks weak enough to no longer deserve her place at the top of the food chain." I looked intently at Jiraya at that moment, "If I'm here for this mock war council it's because our spies have reported a mobilization in Iwa and Kumo."

Shikaku cleared his throat: "How would you proceed?"

I rolled my eyes: "Divide and conquer. We should perform a series of false flag operations between Tsuchi no Kuni and Kaminari no Kuni. Iwa is far from broken, but without Onoki they are weakened. Let's make them believe Kumo wants to obtain hegemony over the Great Five. And we should also ensure Tetsu no Kuni stays out of the fight. Kakashi-sensei has the skill for the first task, and I would send Hyuga to the second. If Kumo gets greedy and assaults them in Tetsu no Kuni, the samurai will shut down their border with minimal assistance from us."

"Who strikes first, strikes twice." Tsunade quoted another of my sensei's books, her sake raised in a mock toast.

And with what was definitely a drunken drawl, the war council came to an end.

"My orders then?" I asked.

Tsunade arched an eyebrow at me, she was still somewhat skeptic that I was as strong as the facts suggested, I could tell: "You're on leave for the next week, then I'll have your orders, enjoy it, because then you won't be able to take another until this war is done. And congratulations, for your actions during the Betrayal, everyone on your team is promoted to chunin."


	27. Four Kinds Of Beauty

**FOUR KINDS OF BEAUTY**

**DAIKI**

* * *

Fuinjutsu was utter bullshit for a lot of reasons. I would never be a fuinjutsu master, one who actually understood how that shit worked. While I understood the seals I used, I would never be able to adapt them, and some parts I had memorized, giving up on actually understanding. The only thing I was mostly sure about was that somehow 'intent' entered the equation. It made sense, since will and intent shaped chakra, and all the world's mumbo jumbo-like impossibilities came from chakra one way or another.

Fuinjutsu was beauty. Once you managed to understand properly a seal, it remained with you, your mind learned how the impossible lines of ink bent reality, and your understanding of the world changed, tilted just that little bit to keep track of the impossible beauty that ink made possible.

I couldn't stress it enough. I remembered clearly explaining to Shikamaru, the only one which had enough brainpower to process it along my other lessons, that at its core the Art was about taking something, placing it somewhere and then taking it out.

Having said that, the _why _completely escaped me.

The _how _was somehow more clear.

Like for everything else, it was reduced to chakra. Chakra circulated in patterns described by whatever material that the seal was made out of, creating a _fold_ in reality. Roughly, it reminded me of a gravitational well: an object of a vast matter ( with its related gravity ) that bent spacetime.

Only it happened on a vastly smaller scale and with a lot of complications.

All the fanfiction bullshit about creating a singularity or a door to Cthulu's backyard was exactly that: bullshit. Everything was built in proportion to either technique or chakra. And it made sense, since otherwise there would have been at least one megalomaniac suicide fuinjutsu user since the dawn of time. Or a serious enough mistake would have already spelt doom for the world. So yes, fuinjutsu was OP, but only in capable hands, the notion that a random civilian could write a seal capable of destroying the universe was absurd at first and risible at best.

Among other things, said folded space was avaliable only for something defined into the seal: to place X into a fuinjutsu array, one had to sonehow define said X with the ink.

Storage scrolls for small enough objects were easy enough to write, for a single element with a general enough definition ( like water ) even easier. Why? For the semplicity of the seal.

I couldn't write seals in english, because the characters didn't allow chakra to circulate in an appropriate way, and simmetry was a foundamental part of stability. (That part brought us back to the _why _and I was completely lost). The definition in english would be made with characters that did not flow one into another, or at least with separated words, and it worked. Again, the _why_ completely escaped me.

In general, seals fell under two categories: local or doors. Local working seals were various application of storage scrolls. Doors tossed you into the next dimension. I say next dimension because I believed that all the summons shared the same plane, each location somehow interwined.

Paper bomb? Easy enough, one sealed away fire. Every shinobi had a passable familiarity with fire, defining campfire was enough, the rest of the work was using ink to describe the 'confines' of the seal. Or just pumped chakra into it, which resulted into an explosion once it was let go. The scrolls used by Shikamaru in the manga against Kakuzu? Natured chakra sealed away.

Paralysis seals? They sucked in electricity on the same frequency of the one that ran through the nerves, effectively binding someone. The last command muscle heard kept them either relaxed or contracted, leaving alone those commands that were sent autonomously, such as the impulses that regulated the heart and whatnot.

Security seals that strengthened walls? It could be done by sealing away the _matter_ in the wall, leaving some paradox-void-shit that was the manifestation of the molecular bond between the matter left behind the one sealed away

Roughly, to seal away shit, I drew a square and placed the definition of what I wanted to put away in the centre of it.

However, if it was that simple, it would have allowed any idiot to seal away the moon, and given the idiots-apocalypses ratio, I was reassured that there was something more to it.

It had taken me months of thinking furiously under the tutelage of my summons, and I had only managed to grasp the rules of the art.

The Uzumaki Clan had an istinctive grasp of the Art, and as such the most bullshit superpowers had roots in Uzushiogakure.

Defining the limits of a seal was akin to build a room, but the seals needed a door, maybe a window or fifteen, and if necessary, a chimney. Some seals' boundaries acted like a pump, sphoning whatever, only needing supports (often in the form of trigrams, because somewhat they were more stable).

How did scribbles on paper and chakra manage to summon the shinigami?

It wasn't an actual god.

It was a pre existent sealing construct, or a manifestation of a dimension, one which had a lock that could be opened only through death, the key to the lock being a soul willingy given. But that was true only for the _input_ of the dimension, commonly known as shinigami. For the output, one had to become the lock wearing its mask, and using the key ( read cutting open your stomach ) to free what was inside.

If the dimension defined as 'stomach of the Shinigami' existed on its own, had been built by the Uzumaki, or was a repurposed area of the summoning plane, I couldn't tell.

But how did Hiruzen manage to seal away Tobirama, Hashirama's souls along with only Orochimaru's hands in the manga? After all he hadly had the time to write down their names in the Shinigami's stomach: the answer I had managed to find was _intent._

At the end of the day, chakra was the car and the road one used to perform ninja magic, the road being technique and the car being your will. Using the correct hand seals without willing fire into existence would have failed to produce a single spark. It would have also explained how Naruto managed to use his father's hiraishin.

At the last Uzumaki's birth, the whirpool on Naruto's bellybutton acted on the Kyubi's chakra, dragging the chakra beast inside the child, and the eight trigrams acted alternatively as the bars of the cage and the empty spots between one and another, which filtered the Kyubi's chakra into the Uzumaki's coils.

At least that was the only way through which everything clicked together.

Hiraishin? It was madness, but the theory worked. The first time one used a summoning technique got reverse-summoned: a moment of _not-being_ before landing in the summoning plane. My rudimentary understanding of the hiraishin was that the three pronged seal contained the first part of a reverse summoning, a definition of _who_ was going to be summoned, and a target where this one would pop out of.

The actual workings of it went way over my head, especially the part in which the Fourth Hokage had dozens of those tri pronged kunai around and could switch among every one of his marks without difficulty. Another question I didn't know how to answer was 'what would happen if the marker where I'm teleporting to gets destroyed before I arrive there?'. Even if a possible answer was the instantaneousness of the Hiraishin Technique: there was no time between the beginning and the end of the technique, and thusly, either the marker was destroyed before the activation of the technique, rendering it null, or after, and then the user was free to do whatever.

Sealing away [body-chakra-soul] worked well for the Shodaime and Nidaime' edo tensei, while I had to place Orochimaru's scroll inside of a larger array, meant to shut down the chakra, defined as different from mine, which was moving inside. While the initial seal had as a base concept of sealing another [body-chakra-soul], I had enclosed the sealed Orochimaru into another scroll, which purpose was sealing [human-life], thusly integrating the somewhat loose sealing of the renegade Sannin.

Sealing away something with an active chakra system was a nightmare, since the one inside could run his chakra in the seal enough to disrupt it, returning the folded reality to the norm. In any case, there was no doubt that seals were _beautiful_. At least once you understood them.

Sealing Biju? Now, _that_ started to be utter bullshit. The seal had to be compatible with the jinchuriki, it had to hold account of both the subject and the biju's chakra, having the first acting as a key to drag out the second. Some mumbo jumbo went in considering that the tailed beast _was_ its chakra.

I sighed, cradling the giant headache that was my head. _Kishimoto made up this shit without even thinking about its logic, and now I am forced to find out the hows and whys. _I wanted someone to blame, someone I could hit. Kishimoto was a no, for obvious reasons. _What to hit, what to hit..._

My eyes landed on the sealing scrolls I had stacked neatly under a tree, a fucked up idea jumping to the forefront of my mind, I shook my head in denial, even I wasn't so crazy. _I did want to become S rank without sage mode._ I reminded myself.

With a sigh, I walked over, my hand landing on Tobirama' sealing scroll. _I could learn some crazy suiton from him..._

* * *

**JIRAYA**

* * *

_The land of the mist is__ aptly named. _I sighed briefly to myself, watching once more the dreary place that surrounded me. The trees looked almost sick by the lack of proper sunlight, fungi were everywhere, the ground was always wet, fucking with my hearing, even the mist seemed to creep to a standstill only to capture sounds more effectively. As for my sight, bah! Light didn't travel beyond a dozen meters on a windy, sunny day. Where I was staying was night, and there wasn't a lick of wind.

I was sitting on a tree stump, my campfire merrily dancing in front if my eyes. I had brought out a kettle from a storage scroll, and was busy writing the third chapter of my next masterpiece.

Tea in the elemental nations, at least the one coming from Cha no Kuni, was unique. There were several blands and melanges, and each one of them could be used as an opportune opening.

_Mikoto poured the tea with a grace and expertise that should be beyond the grasp of such a young woman: "Raya-sama, your green tea is ready, do you have other requests?"_

_The proud Raya gave a earthly chuckle at the innocent question, his strong hand slowly caressing the cheek of the petite beauty. _Many men only wish for plump lovers, with wide hips and breast like hills. Fools, I say! For every woman is a spectacle of Nature! _Thought the gallant Raya: "My dear, I only choose green tea because I cannot drink the emerald in your eyes! You wonder what else I can desire, let me answer: your company would be the sweetest thing to drink!"_

I finished the introduction as fast as I could, I had neither the patience nor the inclination to pussyfoot around! My pen started whirlwinding over the otherwise blank book, precise characters filling one page after another.

I let my mind relax, the words finding their wsy on the page with barely an imput from me. With my free hand, I slipped a gulp of tea, naturally I recognized some of the herbs, but clearly there was some otherworldly deity at work during the production, since the flavour it left behind hovering on my palate was beyond what I could have hoped to taste in my situation.

Maybe unsurprisingly, it gave me hope for the world. It meant that someone used some application of chakra to realize something which wasn't made to kill. Immediately, and not for the first time, I felt the wish to travel over to Cha no Kuni and find out for myself how they did it. Chakra was extremely dangerous, could be taught only to the young, and with its power, it naturally became primarly used for war. It was refreshing and saddening, that sonething capable of such marvels was applied only to dealing death.

_But then again, men live and die roaming between Love and War. _I shook my head sadly.

"Hey! That's quite catching! Men die roaming between Love and War." I repeated out loud, tasting its sound rolling off my tongue.

The Elemental nations trades all whirled around warfare, not only because a nation not supporting its hidden village caused its ninja to steal what was needed from the defence-less, but also because the very first thing one thought about when hearing about chakra was its military application. _It's always been like that. _I reminded myself. _Reminiscing over a past that could have been is pointless. _

And I couldn't fault the reasoning, in a world where anyone could kill you in 143 different ways using a leaf, the first concern of any sensivle person would be learning 144 ways to do the same, just to be able to protect my own.

And yet, it didn't take a genius to figure out that an half proficient doton user could plow dozens of fields in a single hour. Hell, someone actually trained with doton could actually build a house. Katon in Suna could provide glass, and that was without thinking about what a shinobi could do as a blacksmith. Superior reflexes, inhuman strenght and stamina, the control over fire... _Aaand I'm thinking about forging swords, which exist to kill_. I realized, stopping myself.

"This world needs dreamers..." I sighed, looking at the grey, clouded sky. Well, it wasn't correct, everything was grey-ish. The mist was so thick it actually dampened sound. Given my Katon affinity, I could complain, and I would, once back to the village. While not comparable to my sensing as a Sage, everything that came 20 meters around me would give away its presence through one way or another, like a stone falling into a puddle. I may not have been a sensor, but even without sage mode, I picked up more than a single trick during my career.

I drank my tea, thinking about the other great question that had left both me and sensei grasping for straws: Daiki. Guy's student, always been of a sneaky kind, put in a team to act as a main responsible for subterfuge, that ranged from infiltration to psychological warfare. "What a mess." I murmured to myself: the greenhorn had actually pulled off Sage Mode, and perfectly, at least looking at his claims and at what he had managed.

Sure, he had been in Sage Mode hovering over his students since the Second Stage, but that with it he couldn't cleanly win against Orochimaru? It smelled fishy. I was the very first to recognize the kind of bullshit trump card that Sage Mode was, and I had access to an imperfect version of it, with that, I was pretty sure that I could take on my old teammate... then why didn't the kid manage to get out of it alive? Given the lack of movements and tracks of every kind, Orochimaru had officially been declared dead, even if the Hunter Nin roaming the Land of Fire were informed that it could be a ruse.

_ The kid set up his own death, albeit taking with him one of the biggest thorns in our sides. _I thought again about it, not agreeing with the think tank and the higher-ups of the Village had always been his thing, and given the amount of information that he had discovered during the years that contradicted what he had been guarantee as truth made him less than amenable to simply drop the matter. Jiraya, the Gallant Jiraya, Toad Sage and teacher of the Fourth Hokage Jiraya, frowned thoughtfully.

_His yurt had some minor seals in the walls... _I remembered with grudging respect, it was clear that the design hadn't been his, it hadn't felt personal enough for that, but that he managed to pull them off indicates a level of dedication that is... uncommon. _But that is the crux of the matter isn't it? _His file pinned him as an eccentric, his ghost company to deal with the publications of his books, in particular, proved it. But from them to flight risk? Unneeded paranoia killed as much as an unwarranted one.

I read some of his works, for all the sense that they made. He had written defending a position, then another, first in simple lines, then as poetry that sounded frankly horrible. His works lacked the beauty that Jiraya poured in his novels. In the Toad Sage's mind, it was pretty clear that he hadn't been the one to write them, at least not them all, and that every idea in his books had been born directly from the greenhorn was... risible, impossible, offensive. He still hadn't decided which.

Writing something, from a story to a treatise, brought you to pour part of yourself in the words, it was that that, in the Gallant Jiraya's opinion, made art _true _and_ beautiful_.

_I need to stop thinking of myself in third person when I think about other artists._ I reprimanded myself. Thinking again about some of the House Of The Rising Sun' publications, I shook my head minutely, while they lacked Beauty, it couldn't be said that they weren't be sold like pregnancy tests after an orgy in one of my most successful books.

I sighed again. _Naruto hardly seems the type to flourish with fuinjutsu. A pity. _I closed my eyes, tasting my tea while considering the boy. He would become S-rank given enough time, there was no doubt about it. Between whatever Minato did to use the Kyūbi's chakra to constantly replenish and enlarge his coils, his Uzumaki vitality, and the reported headstrong nature, all he had to do was survive long enough.

I moved my gaze in the direction of something that disturbed my senses, and a fraction of a second later, three kiri shinobi emerged from the mist. _Time to make friends_.

* * *

**KUROTSUCHI**

* * *

Kurotsuchi let the katana slide slowly on the whetstone, her trained ears picking up every imperfection of the blade, while her eyes remained close. She didn't have time for sleeping, and while being rested meant a lot, the working conditions of a weapon could mean the difference between life and death. So, there she was, breathing slowly, almost meditating, while her eyes rested, trying to pick up on the beauty of her movements, on their harmony and necessity.

Over the constant lullaby of Kurotsuchi taking care of her favourite tool, the sounds of the camp were strangely muted, and justly so: ninja were quiet beings outside the safe confines of their village, and she knew that she was far from home.

She grew up without war, and the difference between the world before the Crush of Konoha and after was a stark one: from missions that required her team to come and go from Iwa, to being stationed among colleagues she didn't know on a territory she was unfamiliar with... She sighed, raising from her crouched position and opening her eyes, examining the glistening blade under the rays of the sunset.

Beauty could be found often enough, if only one bothered to look.

She dried it with a cloth before sheathing it and walking back to the tent she had been assigned, where she dropped down and finally felt like she had done enough to warrant some rest.

Three hours later, she left the tent and joined the wave of Iwa nin running silently over the barren ground, moon and stars granting enough light to move, while training and enhanced senses allowed them to correct their balance and pace in order to not fall.

Her long legs started crunching ground at a pace nobody her age cold hope to keep, chakra expertly twirling in her coils as she skipped over stones and flanking some of his compatriots. In all of that, her breath was measured, calm, through her nose, she took lungful after lungful, oxygenating her blood and keeping her muscles into a state of languid relaxation ready to be turned into a coiled spring about to ... well, spring.

Kurotsuchi allowed herself a self-deprecating smile over her admittedly bad pun, but even then not a sound left her lips.

She had never been in a war, but likely every other ninja of her generation she had heard stories, even more so than many others, given which family she belonged to. She knew that Konoha had been on the backfoot during the previous war, that they were about to break, that no matter what, Konhagakure no Sato had never stood a change against the might of Iwa. Peace Treaties had been signed because of... _him._

Every mention of him had been a curse, the Yellow Devil he had been renamed, a symbol of unstoppable death. _No, that's not it. _She shook her head briefly, the rhythm of the run lulling her into deeper and deeper thoughts. It wasn't like the Fourth Hokage had been the only one that incarnated death while on the field, her own grandfather had donned the mantle of Annihilator without regrets, his technique of particle dismantling had left undeniable marks in the ground and souls of witnesses. Not survivor, there never had been a single survivor of his technique: when you were enclosed in the white barrier that denied the limits of her grandfather's target, you were gone, less than dust, motes of half gone memories.

The Fourth Hokage had been terrifying and unfair for a whole different reason: there was no defence against him, that had been recounted and explained clearly. The God of Shinobi, Hanzo the Salamander, Rasa of the Gold Sand, the Third Raikage, all had been people that had made themselves known once more during the previous war: their techniques polished and effective, not a movement wasted, taijutsu, genjutsu, ninjutsu. Getting close meant death through crunched bones, getting distracted for less than a split second meant being too late to avoid a lethal blow, facing them alone meant being suffocated by their presence alone: monsters. All S-rank were monsters, that was renown and obvious, but even against the impossible odds presented by the existence of said monsters, big enough numbers could hold them back, other S-rank could go toe to toe with them, they could hold each other back.

The Devil had broken that pattern. Against great numbers, he cut through like a knife through water, against a single S-rank, he held a line, passed wich he could be inside your guard before you could blink, when an S-rank tried to hold him so that the rest of the respective armies, mostly acting as a support, could try to decide the battle. The last configuration had always been the one to refer to when in the greatest battles the S-ranks of the villages going at each other, leaving the regular jonins and chunins to decide the battle proper. The Fourth Hokage could attempt a lethal stab at his opposing S-rank and kill four 'regular' shinobi on the other side of the battlefield while his first attack was countered.

There was no chance, no technique, no honest confrontation, even based on the loose rules of engagement that counted more or less as a tradition among the Villages: against him, there had been no hope.

Then he had died, apparently fighting the Kyubi no Kitsune, the Greatest of the Nine, and the God Of Shinobi had taken back his seat, and now her grandfather was dead. 'It's our greatest opportunity since the Kyubi's attack or the Uchiha Massacre' had been the voice circulating through the troops sent to Konoha, even selected genin like herself had been informed about the plan. It had been cunning and appropriate, falling on the leaves' backs like the avalanche that Iwa could be.

Then her grandfather had died, and apparently, their Sandaime had seen the battle trough, denying whatever hope of crushing victory that there had been. Tsunade Senju had taken up the mantle of her sensei.

Senju, born from monsters, someone that 'officially' had retired and had been getting drunk in grief in the Land of Fire. Kurotsuchi had to withhold a scoff. _As if. _S-ranks didn't randomly pop out of nowhere, either the stress and pressure of the rank pushed them to become missing-nin, or their loyalty to the village grew through the years to the point that they couldn't conceive a threat to their home to exist.

War had been unavoidable then, Kurotsuchi knew that much. But even when she had first been informed of the plan, her mind had gone back to her first chunin exam, back when she was ten.

* * *

_We got lined up with the single group from Konoha, and I knew that we would have to show to the world the difference between laid back and soft tree huggers and the hard stone of us Iwa-nin. I exchanged glances and nervous gulps with my teammates, we would give them hells, the one in blue armour should be the first to go down, and I signalled so to the others, if he was such an idiot as had made himself out to be before the beginning of the challenge, either he was the most dangerous, and thusly had to be taken down while we were still fresh, or he was an idiot, and a quick strike down would weaken the resolve of the other two Leaves. _

_The female was a brute kind, it had been obvious from their exchange, and we had been told that she was an Inuzuka, one of the valued Bloodlines from Konoha that paired each of their shinobi to a dog-nin, and since she there hadn't been one, Kurotsuchi knew that she was already on the back foot, so she would go second, leaving the unknown for last. _

_Kurotsuchi had known that in the ninja world, it was to kill or to be killed, and when the time came and her team acted, they failed. _

_Kurotsuchi remembered that he had simply disappeared, no blur, no telling twitch of his muscles, no genjutsu. He had downed the three of us, not lethally, before we could even start to bring our act together._

_"Attacking someone you know nothing about is the pinnacle of stupidity." he told us, his expression and tone expressing clearly his boredom and... disappointment? "What would your families say?" he had stared at Kurotsuchi while he asked that rhetorical question, and she had known that he knew about her grandfather. _

_My mind had been forced to reboot after our failed first attack, we had to retreat, to run, we were already dead... and he was..._bantering _with his teammates? What the fuck!? Didn't they deserve at least the courtesy of being killed with some form of seriousness? _

_"You are not deep frying the Tsuchikage's grandaughter while we are in Iwa, Shin." their team leader clearly stated then, once more locking eyes with me. __"Besides, Kuro-chan looks kind of cute, with her pigtails and whatnot." _

He knows my name. _She remembered thinking, shell-shocked. That was beyond the information he could have gathered on his own, or that even his team and Konoha had access to before the beginning of the tests. Maybe voices regarding the presence of the Tsuchikage's granddaughter could have been picked up in the waiting rooms, but her name? _

_When questioned about his reasons and motives, he had appeared offended, almost disgusted at the thought of killing. "__I didn't come to Iwa to kill children."_

_The words had cut her legs, almost making her crumpling to the ground. It had to be some kind of trick, a ploy, a set up. And yet, the Leaves, that clearly had been far more capable than one could have credited them for, didn't even spill blood._

* * *

_We weren't even of consequence for them. _Kurotsuchi thought grimly as she kept running quietly into the night. And it wasn't some glaring weakness like the lackof enough balls to kill them, as they had clearly demonstrated in the last stage.

_Jinchuriki. _Kurotsuchi tasted the word in her mind, slowly mulling it over as she remembered what the apparently easygoing genin in blue armour had shown in the last stage. _He had no problems with killing, he has even been enough sport to not brutalize his first opponent immediately. _She took a small jump, letting her momentum carry her over a small creek.

Iwa was famous for its doton and lava release, Suna for their genjutsus and puppets, along with the admittedly terrifying poisons that Chyjo had brought to life, Kumo had their scary attitude towards lightning, and bloodlines that were truly terrifying, Kiri was filled by batshit crazy people, the Seven Swordsmen were merely an example, and Konoha... had clans, a lot of them. Even if fire users were fairly common, they didn't any outstanding ninja that could wield Katon as masterfully as Kiri shinobi did Suiton. Konoha liked to advertise itself as basing its work on teamwork and other such trite shit. But Kurotsuchi, even if she didn't admit it to anyone but herself, knew what Konoha was famous for: producing monsters.

At least a couple fr every generation, and when there weren't two S-rank ready to tear the world apart for their precious Village, there were teams that had dedicated their whole career to working with specific other ninjas. Clearly, the combination techniques they were able to pull off became much more streamlined and smooth, holding feints and fake errors within themselves.

Sure, when Konoha failed, it did so spectacularly, Orochimaru of the Snakes had become infamous for his mercenary attitude and there were many voices about the kind of experiments he used to run. Itachi Uchiha and Shisui Uchiha had been other two. The first betrayed the trust of their village, using it as a personal hunting ground, the other two had torn asunder their own clan, leaving in the night and going forward as a lethal couple of shinobi.

So when Kurotsuchi had been told about the plan to crush Konoha at the Chunin Exams with the help of Orochimaru and Rasa himself, she had immediately thought to the genin capable of levelling an arena with a suiton jutsu, killing a Jinchuriki with said attack. She remembered that his suiton demonstration had been the first time she though a jutsu to be truly _beautiful._ And that image had remained with her ever since.

When she had the occasion of crunching what she saw were his students, she had remembered the otherworldly beauty of water expanding faster than sound, and had refrained from killing the greenhorn.

She had only hoped that he wasn't about to become another Devil when they had begun to enact the plan to take down Konoha.

He didn't, and yet he proved that he would have become terrifying, takin on the first two Kages and Orochimaru... Kurotsuchi felt goosebumps running over her spine as she kept running: she could only hope that Konoha hadn't another monster in its lines ready to tear into her home country.

* * *

**SHIKAMARU**

* * *

I crossed the threeshold of the secret base with a carefully blank expression on my face. Jiraya had opened contacts, I was to keep them working.

Inside of the underground circular room, several Kiri-nin were looking at me expectantly, gazes going from mistrustful to interest, but everyone went silent, as a show of unity if nothing else.

She was a tall, slender woman, white, smooth looking skin. Her ankle-length auburn hair was styled into a herringbone pattern at the back, she wasn't wearing a top-knot tied with a dark blue band yet, contrasting the admittedly strange notes Daiki-sensei had left me. Four bangs hiding her forehead, the two short ones covering her right eye, letting the other emerald green one _shine _from under a well cared for eyebrow. The two longer bangs crossed each other on her bust, just below her sharp chin, dragging the eye of any sane human being to her deep cleavage.

I had no doubt that she used it as a distraction to kill with even fewer difficulties any fool that would end up distracted.

I remembered her in the blue of sensei's sketches, and while she was wearing a mesh armor, her shoulders were covered by a grey flak jacket, her black shirt doing nothing to hide her figure.

She wore mesh leggings reaching down over her knees of the same grey of her jacket, the monotony of the color broken with black wrappings that held several pouches. Her calves hidden by the standard shinobi sandals one could find everywhere in the Elemental Nations.

I didn't miss her nail varnish matching her lipstick. _Seduction-missions during wartime? _I frowned, my mind quickly building an answer: _To unbalance the impressionable Konoha-nin._

She was _easily_ the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. And she had dragged together a resistance and led it through civil war. I also distinctly remembered the description of her spitting a fucking lake of lava and being able to wrap the surroundings in a caustic mist.

Given the high lethality of said kunoichi, I wasn't going to shag her with someone else's dick. _Not that I thought about it. _I denied to myself, before holding back a sigh when Daiki-sensei's words climbed their way back to the forefront of my mind: "_Humans obey to four biological priorities: water, food, sex, shelter._"

Once that thought had been set in my head, time started flowing again in the right direction.

"You must be the Godaime Mizukage I heard so much about." I started conversationally, ignoring the surrounding ninja bristling at my disrespect. "_Never pretend to feel respect. Don't pretend or lie with those who can squish you._ _When you'll actually be capable of doing so, you'll no longer need to listen to my survival tactics."_

Then I snapped my fingers, pretending to having suddenly remembered something. Before they could stop me, I tapped the storage seal on my armguard: freeing Zabuza's cleaver, causing everyone to widen their eyes.

"We heard that you lost yet another of your Seven, so as the graceful neighbours that we are, we brought back this beauty." I opened the meeting channelling my inner sensei, I only hoped that it wouldn't get me killed outright.


	28. S-RANK

**S-RANK**

* * *

**DAIKI**

* * *

In the vast, dry planes that were nothing but a small area that the Elephant Tribe crossed from time to time, I was having my way against two vastly superior opponents. Or at least, opponents that once had been on a whole different level than me, but that now, managed to save themselves only by working together. I never had the kind of experience necessary to turn my skills from theoric to practical: the only way to truly sharpen one's own skills, at least when talking about the ninja-related disciplines, is to grind them against an equal, and given the utter bullshit that were the Gates, and the Sage mode that I could use with relative impunity, to get truly better my only option had been to fight to the death against S-class rated shinobi and kunoichi. That had the unfortunate risk of death, and thusly, I had managed to find only this loophole.

Where Tobirama was undoubtedly the most talented Suiton user I had ever had the pleasure to battle, he combined his masterful manipulation of water with assassination techniques that once would have forced me to enter Sage Mode to survive. For the first month after my 'death' I had been facing the Second Hokage for longer and longer stretches of time, forcing myself to learn how to survive and counteract the war of attrition he was so capable of carrying on. Being undead was certainly a great boon on his side, even if I suspected that the imperfect resurrection that Orochimaru had used left him to be less innovative than he would have been when alive.

In any case, he managed to disappear in thin air, and not only through the use of genjutsu, that I had grown incredibly adept at dispelling. Every attack he carried on was quick, quiet, and quite deadly if it ever landed. I had regretted my training plan several times since I had first freed him, but there was no mistaking the fact that humans learned faster when risking their lives. Every day had been an endless cycle of refining my attacks, learning how not to let him sense me through any mundane mean, shaping up my defence, turning the inevitable holes in it in traps ready to snap closed on the neck of my opponent, and adapting to not waste a single drop of energy, either in jutsu or in simple movements.

_The unnatural mist that clung in the area worked against and in favour of both of us. While he had control over it, thickening it in ways I never thought possible in order to dampen only very specific sounds, while letting me hear others that were either triggers for genjutsu or feints that more often than not lead me to overextend in my defence. _

_Still, in the damp wetness that wrapped the world in a cover that wanted only for you to lay down and sleep away your problems, I had never felt so alive. _How long has it been? _I asked myself as I ducked under a hail of kunai and swept my leg to stop the incoming assault carried by yet another mizu bunshin._

How long since I have actually ricked my life in a battle? _I swerved on my right, letting my left foot trail on the ground towards my left, making it sound like I was moving in that direction. _Since my fight against the Jinchuriki in my chunin exams, I have never truly been out of control of a fight, I always have a Sage Mode at the ready, shadow clones are bullshittingly useful like that, and even then, how many enemies have I faced that required more Gates than the ones I could control properly?

_My heart was beating steadily in my chest, not betraying the strange mixture of excitement and fear that permeated me: _Is this what everybody feels when fighting?_ I could understand why ninja tended to be so bloodthirsty: there was a strange assurance when fighting for your life. Proving yourself, the skill you spent countless hours honing, testing the strength of ligaments that you stretched to their limits during training, the power of muscles that have screamed at you in more than one occasion when you tried a new movement that forced them to twist in unexpected ways. There was even some sort of honesty between you and your opponent: both of you were trying to kill the other. No second motivation, no scheming to gain some sort of advantage long term over you, only a fight to the death._

_Every movement, every jutsu, every breath, every thought was dedicated to destroying your opponent, by attrition, raining on him more and more wounds, until he finally fell because of blood loss, with the occasional lethal attack to keep him on the backfoot. In its own way, it was beautiful. _

_After a month of fighting Tobirama one on one, I had gotten better: I no longer needed a Sage Clone to jump in to save me when I messed up, and I stopped using the fifth, sixth and seventh gate. My control over the first Five was clean enough to allow me to keep them open indefinitely, even if it had cost me great amounts of concentration in the beginning, I had come to ease the flow of chakra that ordinarily caused so much damage with the same ease and focus that I needed to breathe. _

_There were no flashy jutsu to cause vast amount of damage over an area, catching the opponent and his possible escape routes, there was no taunting. Our fight was quiet. At the beginning, even with the occasional save from one of my Sage Clones, and abundant use of the sixth Gate, I managed to keep up with the fight for less than an hour: the amount of focus necessary to balance out techniques, tactics, and ration the expenditure of chakra was so heavy on my mind that forced my clone to seal back the reanimation of the Second Hokage in order to give me some time to rest. _

_After a month, I had found my edge, and even knowing that the second Hokage was less than he had been when alive, I felt that there was some kind of hope for my long term plans to succeed. On average, I killed him three times every two hours of uninterrupted battle, and given that he didn't tire at all, the training regime of throwing myself at the Second Hokage until I managed to stop dying proved itself effective. _

_I didn't learn any new skill, no superjutsu, no new form of taijutsu: only effectiveness. I battled until I dropped to the ground, again and again. My attacks became sleekier, my chakra quieter, the few genjutsu in my arsenal were applied with a simple tinge on my coils, disrupting the opponent in critics instants that allowed me to go for the kill. Given that the Second Hokage was already dead, I didn't have to control my strength, didn't have to avoid some grips that when successful broke his spine, every fight had been to the death, and my skills had adapted in order to bring death. _

_My fingertips cut deeper than any kunai, Kabuto's idea of using a chakra scalpel had become a founding stone over which I had adapted the strong fist that Guy-sensei had taught me. Muay Thai could be seen from time to time, but from the tenketsu on my elbows and knees, as well as from my feet, invisible blades less than an inch long cut and damaged my opponent. Even if he didn't bleed, I forced myself to keep them on, since every time I hit a bunshin, it dissolved due to the damage I inflicted to it._

_There was no green chakra shroud covering the area in which I received wounds, only a faintly glowing green sheen over the wound itself. I would never reach Tsunade's level, it was something beyond me, but nevertheless made it possible for me to fight for longer, reducing to 0 my blood loss because of cuts. In case one poisoned me, I could start counteracting the poison bleeding out the portion of blood that contained it with a subtle application of Suiton. _

_When the defence of my opponent proved effective, forcing me to hit in precise spots where his armour would disperse the energy from my blow, Rasengan formed itself in a split second and exploded against my opponent. Truly, it was a marvellous jutsu. _

_In a single month, my awareness of myself in my 'base' form had grown along with a select number of my skills. From before my training and after said month, the difference was the one between an athlete with all the right muscles used to sprint, and the one that played football professionally. There were less and less wasted movements, and each step had at least two possible variations that allowed me to set up this or that series of attacks. _

_Fighting against the Reanimation of the First Hokage had required another two weeks. In that time, the already streamlined version of me that could counter Tobirama with almost effortless precision reintroduced the occasionally powerful and vast expenditure of chakra. There was no circumventing a forest sprouting out of nowhere in order to spear through whatever there was in front of it._

_Against my better hopes, I resumed using Kage Bunshin for prolonged fights. I used the same alternative jutsu that I had first developed back when I was in service of the Fire Lord: creating a clone with no feedback of memories. Back then, it allowed me to leave a clone that didn't waste chakra for either jutsu or techniques capable of writing down whatever it remembered from the works I had read back home. The clone I created either spent itself in a jutsu to counter the wide-area one of Hashirama, or acted as a support, allowing me some breathing room when facing the Mokuton user. _

_After that, I had begun anew fighting against the two Senju Brothers, again without Sage Mode and Sixth or Seventh Gate. _

_It took me three months. Three months of endless battle, with two Sage Clones at the ready to jump in and save me. The general feeling of that stretch of time was of me being slowly worn down. Combination attacks, twin assaults, ambushes, feints and counterfeits. _

_It was one thing to fight in planes where mist clung tightly to you. It was a thing fighting in evergrowing and moving forests that answered to your opponent. It was a whole different thing learning how to survive in a mixture of the two without the unnaturally efficient and vast sensing capabilities of Sage Mode. _

_The first month of me facing against both Tobirama and Hashirama had been survival camp: I ran. I avoided ambushes, I learned how to mask my presence better and better, but in forests made of a wood fed by Hashirama's chakra, I likely stood out like a sore thumb. At the beginning, I lasted less than twelve minutes on average before I was found out and 'killed' (I counted as a failure every time a Sage Clone had to jump in to allow me to retreat). I didn't know what kind of awareness the two Reanimated Corpses had, but apparently, they gunned for the original, knowing that my clones would not attack them. _

_Even so, I suspected that they roughly understood what was going on, after all, while standard protocol stated that when facing a team you had to take down the weakest member first, it didn't quite apply when the weakest member was the one providing the existence of the strongest components of said team (in this case, my clones). A tactically sound decision would have been hammering down on my clones every time they appeared, forcing me to tire out by creating them before tearing me apart. _

_I suspected that they were still acting on Orochimaru's order of killing me, and that they were still somehow choosing to interpret said order in a way that allowed me to get out on top. _

One month against Tobirama, two weeks against his brother. That had allowed me to grow stronger in way I had only suspected were possible. It was the difference between being someone that attained a certain musculature through training in a gym, and being someone that had performed a set of actions that had caused the development of the musculature, only applied on every level of my being. From how I thought about a fight, to how I set up feints and traps in my taijutsu, to how I exploited the action of my opponent against him.

Without Sage Mode and using the Sixth and Seven Gates (the last option would have left me almost half-dead, to begin with) facing Tobirama and Hashirama both, while not being even remotely close to the real deal, had turned a one-trick pony (albeit a one-trick that was basically a trump card against almost anyone), to something far more dangerous. It had granted me the edge necessary to buy myself time if I ever was to openly fight Pain.

Sarutobi, old as he was, managed to fuck around Tobirama, Hashirama, _and_ Orochimaru without ever using the Gates or Sage Mode. That was a scary old man, there was no other way to explain it, not really. Enough experience to fill a whole library, enough control to make it count.

With a last burst of speed, I weaved through Tobirama's last bout of taijutsu while my clone distracted Hashirama, without giving any pause to the Second Hokage, my hand plunged inside of Tobirama's body, clutching the kunai tied to the strange seal that Orochimaru had used to control the reanimated bodies, and ripped it out.

I didn't stop, dropping low as an accuminate branch tried to skewer me while manipulating the humidity in the air in order to slide over the wet ground, as I charged Hashirama, a clone that I had set up four minutes before out of sight from both of the Senju Brothers appeared out of nowhere, clutching Hashirama's kunai in his hand, Orochimaru's seal dangling quietly in the slowly calming wind.

"Boy." the voice of the second hokage echoed in the small clearing in which I had ended up freeing Hashirama from the renegade Sannin's control: "You could have freed us months ago, explain yourself."

I turned towards him, and his expression was not amused, his pink-red eyes truly fitted well with the deep scowl that was marring his otherwise delicate features, while the tone of his voice was flat, clearly he was expecting me to answer to his orders like he was my superior, and I couldn't truly blame him, he was a scary ninja when alive, now he had on his belt immortality and endless chakra, it was understandable that he felt somewhat entitled to an answer. _The dead should remain dead. _

I ignored Tobirama Senju and turned towards his older brother, who was looking at me with what looked like genuine curiosity. _At least he's not expecting to be in charge. _I scoffed in the safe confines of my mind._ But then again, what I've seen of him in both the manga and the anime points at him as some kind of man-child, albeit a scary powerful one. _

With a sigh, I pulled lightly on my connection with one of the two Sage clones I had at the ready, swiftly compensating the new influx of chakra while my awareness expanded to encompass the whole forest that Hashirama had created in the last months. I felt the black markings don my face while my own presence became somewhat heavier. I breathed in, and I could smell every small insect, ever different flower, deadly or not, that Hashirama had tried to kill me with. I could hear the brushing of leaves and grass against the breeze, while my skin could pick up the position of the two reanimated corpses simply in virtue of how the air moved around us.

With a negligent smirk that I couldn't even try to contain, I tapped the Konoha's symbol on my forehead protector, reminding to both of the undead ninja that I was in service of the Village they had helped found. It wasn't true, but they didn't need to know that, nor they had any reason to doubt me. I studied for a second their grey-ish appearance (after I removed the seals that still bound them to Orochimaru's orders, they lost the vibrant colours that had characterized them, returning to the unhealthy pallor and weak looking constitution).

"We have a lot to talk about." I started: "Your summoning at the hands of the missing-nin Orochimaru had been accounted for, and I received orders from Sandaime-sama about what to do if that eventuality manifested itself."

"You're awfully young to be entrusted to fight my brother and me along with that snakey traitor." Tobirama spoke with an unnervingly calm tone, if this was because the last sparks of vitality had left his body when I removed the seal that enforced Orochimaru's will, or for some other reason, I couldn't tell. "We can no longer move, nor mold chakra, I assume that this was your intention when you removed the blood seals from our bodies?" he asked again, his eyes trailed up and down my form, evaluating me.

"If Sandaime-sama had the time, he would have hammered me into shape himself, however.." I started to reply, only to be interrupted when the First Hokage proved himself quick on the uptake.

"You weren't a true S-class, only a powerful A-class with a couple of dangerous tricks." the elder Senju nodded thoughtfully, while the second completed his reasoning: "Hiruzen-kun certainly has become more cunning since I've last seen him, and more ruthless, I don't know if this is for the better or not."

"There are circumstances you should be made aware of." I waved my hands in a soothing motion, there was no need for the old sensei of the Sandaime to start questioning the orders that I had 'received'. In the following hour, I shared with them the History they missed since after their death, trying to cut short on their commentary, it wasn't something I truly needed, and I didn't quite care about their opinion. So I told them about the Great Ninja Wars, they had missed, about the Fourth Hokage and his demise, the Uchiha Massacre, and about the general state of weakness of Konoha.

When we finished, it was Tobirama to take word: "I still feel the connection to our summoner, why did you keep him alive? Our bodies wouldn't disappear if he was executed."

I nodded without showing a hint of surprise, Kabuto had told the same in the manga, but as I watched the blank expression of the Second Hokage, I knew that his question was more to see my reaction to it than for receiving an answer. If Sarutobi had truly been the one to take into consideration the possibility of Orochimaru using Edo Tensei on me, and had actually charged me with taking care of it, he would have told me weaknesses and strong points of the technique, if only to grant me a greater measure of success. "He had tattooed on one arm the Snake Summoning contract, for now, is a potential asset for Konoha." I bullshitted.

"A dangerous thing, keeping enemies of your home alive only to further your gains, more often than not you end up regretting it." Hashirama spoke with the same empty tone of his brother, forced in unnatural immobility from the condition of the Edo Tensei.

I shrugged, with Sage mode, and Orochimaru no longer protected by Sarutobi's sentimentalism, I knew that the Snake summoner would never leave the Elephant Plane alive. "The first part of my orders was to end the threat that Orochimaru presented to Konoha, the second was to find a way, if possible, to use the attack to shape up and grind some of my skills, you'll have noticed my improvement in the past months. The only question I have now is if you want to serve under my commands, or find a way to return to the Land of the Pure Souls."

"Why under your command? It seems convenient for you, even in that shallow imitation of our old bodies, we were on the lower tier of being S-rank." Tobirama immediately objected.

"Either you believe that I'm actin under orders, and then you'll follow me, or you don't, and we have to figure out how to get you sorry dead asses back to your graves." I was blunt, but I really disliked Tobirama, besides being a stuck up asshole, he was the inventor of the Edo Tensei. _How batshit crazy must one be to figure out a way to create countless disposable zombies? _

"The dead should stay dead." Hashirama replied.

"Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to figure out a way to solve the mess you left behind?" I answered him: "Giving Biju around worked only while you were alive and capable of taking them back, now the jinchuriki are no longer used only for a deterrent, but there are people moving to collect back the Biju, and create some sort of big ass weapon."

"Your orders would see us hunting these people? Why you? Why would Hiruzen-kun entertain the idea of keeping his dead sensei bound to this plane?" Tobirama asked again, his voice, while still flat and without any intonation worthy mentioning, managed to convey his scepticism.

So I gave them the rundown about Akatsuki, that in the canon timeline had started moving only after Naruto had once again been accounted for in Konoha, and then I dropped the bomb: "Danzo always resented Tobirama because he chose Sarutobi over him as his successor when Sandaime-sama offered himself as a distraction against Kumo, since then, he kept up with Root, his secret police, using it indiscriminately in order to further the position of Konoha, even if it meant causing an incident that would lead Konoha to war."

"Danzo-kun is a loyal..." Tobirama managed to sound affronted before I stopped him with a shake of my head.

"How do you think the missing-nin Orochimaru managed to infiltrate Konoha along with your corpses during the Chunin exams?" I asked, revealing a conspiracy that may or may not have existed: "Orochimaru was going for the kill against Sandaime-sama while we had the Tsuchikage and Kazekage in our midst, the plan was gutting Konoha, and Danzo sweeping in with his secret forces to save the day and being named Hokage."

Given the picture of events that I had given them, there were a lot of coincidences that could easily be explained by some mole among the Higher Ups pulling the strings, from the Hyuga incident, to the condition that pushed for the Uchiha Massacre, there was enough dust in the air to throw doubt in both of the First and Second Hokage, and that doubt was all that I needed.

"Would speaking with the one responsible for the Uchiha Massacre help? He'll confirm that he acted under orders if it means that Konoha against you two on the lines for the next conflict, the Fourth Great Ninja War had been brewing for a while now, if it hasn't begun already, it won't be long..." I added, hoping that the blatant urgency of my words could convince them that there were less articulate ways to betray their home.

"This Itachi sounds like a brave soul... it would be difficult for him to fool us when being asked about the death of his family." Hashirama stated, and with that, I knew that I had won.

"If we accepted," Tobirama spoke again in his unnervingly flat tone: "We would first need to figure out a way to give these bodies some kick, at least to the point in which we can keep up with you."

I grinned unashamedly, I had them in the bag: "I guess we should start with fuinjutsu."

* * *

**SASUKE**

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha had been labelled a genius, but he never let it go to his head, not really. He knew of the gulf between himself and those that called themselves his peers, and rightfully treated them dismissively, more often than not with barely veiled scorn. Why shouldn't he? Sure as hell mediocre friends wouldn't help him in taking down... _that man_.

He had been called a genius, but he knew what genius actually looked like. There was no pride in being the first of his class, it wasn't needed, nor warranted. The kids that dragged their feet trough training should have simply remained at home, with their parents, playing cat's cradle or something equally asinine to waste their time. At least they would stay out of his way.

_At least with the was Sakura has been pushed back with the Genins and the Gods know what the Idiots orders are. _He thought with a hint of relief, finally, the dumb idiot with more luck than chakra and the useless wimp were no longer his responsibility, while Kakashi had been sent to much more important missions than keeping an eye out for the Team 7, which had been disbanded in all but name. Between marching together and camping near each other, Sasuke' eyes had picked up more and more habits from the occasional jonin, turning movements he didn't recognize as sloppy in sleekier and less energy-expensive acts.

Since... that night, Sasuke showed the due respect to those who clearly outclassed him, be they the Hokage to whom he 'owed' his loyalty or Kakashi. With the others, he couldn't be bothered to feign interest, and if they got annoyed when he pointed out their blatant failings, well.. it was no skin off his nose.

He showed some kind of respect to Daiki too. It wasn't only due to the blatant difference in power between them, it was something... different. Their relationship had started out with him camping out in the Uchiha Compound, and not in an out of the way alley, no, but in front of his own house! As if he was saying 'I'm here to stay, if you have a problem, come at me'. Unfortunately, until Sasuke was strong enough, he couldn't turn away a single opportunity to become stronger, and until he reached S-rank, that meant sucking up the sneer and disrespect that he felt towards those stronger than himself, at least long enough to learn something out of it.

Sasuke could have someone kick him out. He was far from powerless, he knew that much, as the last Uchiha-sama loyal to the village, he couldn't easily be buffed away when he voiced complaints. Even if that hadn't stopped the Hokage himself from butting in and forbidding Sasuke from jumping ahead of a class or three at the Academy, despite his more than stellar results.

No, the annoying chunin, who went ahead becoming one of the Twelve Fire Guardians first and join right when he returned a Jonin, had presented himself with some sort of spar, pushing Sasuke again and again, forcing him out of patterns he didn't even know he had adopted. Then, in a few months, he just... talked. Often not expecting Sasuke to answer. He talked about Sasuke's errors, firing him to pay attention, and talked about random stuff. Sadly, the two topics of conversation that Daiki mainly kept up with himself (those being stuff that interested Sasuke and what did not), were strictly intertwined, forcing the Last Loyal Uchiha to pay attention to almost everything that was being said.

Almost unwillingly, Sasuke had found himself considering the words of the older shinobi, who remarked that originality and creativity were of paramount importance, without underselling the severe discipline that the genin had kept up since he first started practising the Great Fireball. _The human mind is akin to a river, from the source it is born from, through rapids and waterfalls, to calm currents and through lakes, you cannot force it all the time: true creativity is born out of the combination of a multitude of different experiences the mind goes through._ Sasuke recalled his words with a slight frown, at first he had been reprimanding himself again and again when he found his thoughts roaming pretty much randomly across the encounters he had with the older ninja.

Surprisingly enough, learning how to play that Guitar that Daiki had quite frankly pulled out of his ass had taught him something that he would have picked up only after several missions run back to back, like many of the chunin force of Konoha-nin were slowly coming to learn: rhythm, which translated itself in timing and pacing oneself. Sasuke moved with the bare minimum of speed that he could get away with, preserving his strength, not talking, assuming a somewhat relaxed mental state that allowed his senses to pick up irregularities without needing him tense as a guitar's string.

The day had begun badly enough, heavy clouds covering the sun from view and even heavier rain that crashed down on the forest that the Third Batallion of the Chunin Force was crossing to intercept the Iwa Chunin Force which was gunning for some objective that Sasuke didn't have the clearance to know. The morning had consumed itself in a silence that was tense for most of the people around him, but he hadn't minded that. Orders to keep quiet were welcome in his opinion, he didn't have to feign interest in his compatriots' lives.

Sasuke exhaled slowly as he jumped above a thick root, following the movements of the Jonin keeping an eye out for his section of the Battalion with the Sharingan, burning in his own mind how the teller and somewhat bulkier man shifted his weight in order to optimize his own movements.

Sasuke had unlocked his Sharingan on his first C-Rank mission, turned A-Rank, back in Wave, and since then he had slowly been building upon it. He only had two commas on each eye, he knew that much, but it was enough to memorize movements, if not to unlock the more powerful abilities of his bloodline. In any case, keeping it active for as long as he could, had slowly but surely increased his resistance to the drain to his ever-growing chakra reserves, while the transition had become smoother and smoother, until he could activate and deactivate them from blink to blink.

The heavy rain contributed in a not insignificant way to keep the Chunin Battalion from being tracked from the racket that they made when this or that dumbass stumbled.

Shinobi were silent beings, Sasuke had made that philosophy his own in a way few others could understand. His... Ita... no, _that man_ had been quiet, always smiling slightly, always there, always family. Until he wasn't. So, Sasuke kept quiet as much as he could, keeping his expression from betraying his own thoughts, and thusly keeping them quiet too.

Then Daiki had come barrelling in his compound, freely pushing him to his limits and somehow managing to convince him to pick up a guitar and attending the plants into the small green-house that he had set up (Without the Last Uchiha's permission, obviously). Sasuke had found out for himself that there was something that run deeper than his thoughts after a few weeks of him playing the guitar. It was... difficult, at the beginning he hadn't truly understood what was happening, but slowly, as his mind associated each sound that the guitar could produce to the different configurations that his fingers assumed over the strings, he had let out those thoughts that he had kept quiet for all of his life.

Sasuke, after years of casually applying his far above average intellect to music and the somewhat mind-numbing actions required to keep up the green-house, had come to realize how that part of his mind that he always kept quiet influenced his movements and actions. It wasn't something that he would have noticed while practising the rigorous katas of his clan traditional taijutsu, nor Bukijutsu, since both practices required absolute control of even the slightest movement.

There was something, beyond the ... HATE... that always roared in the core of his being, there was... just something. Something else, something different. A note or a ripple that occasionally emerged when he modified this or that piece of music that he had learned from Daiki, turning an accord into a minor one, making the music sound somewhat sadder or just more defeated than he would have liked.

Yet, when Sasuke managed to let go of everything but the Guitar, refusing to replicate what he had already learned, in more than one occasion his fingers had kept moving, echoing that note that was less and less subdued the more he kept following it. That spark, that trembling wavering just behind the roaring fire that was his HATE. And even in his thoughts, Sasuke called the deafening cursing of his feelings for everything HATE, since it was what was needed for the Lat Loyal Uchiha to revenge his clan and clean its name. Sometimes, in those rare and uncommon stretches of time during which Sasuke managed to find the buried note of something-not-HATE within himself, he had caught himself slowly trailing a finger underneath a damp leaf inside the greenhouse, as if he was reassuring the mindless vegetables, or he had realized, with some sort of detached surprise, that his fingers echoed something-not-HATE that he otherwise would have never realized was there.

While Daiki had been away as a Guardian for the Fire Lord, Sasuke had tried, occasionally, to find the mindset in which he could distinguish the note beyond the HATE as he practised against a wooden pole. He couldn't really tell, but he had felt like his strikes were more controlled. That absolute crushing weight that he otherwise put behind every single punch had become something ready to be unleashed on his command, instead of the only thing that he was capable about.

Sasuke had always been better than his peers, and yet, while he was alone and managed to find that particular mindset, he found that he expected Daiki to somehow hear of that change and commenting, if in a positive or negative way, the Last Uchiha could only guess.

In any case, after more than a week of breakneck march through the forest (breakneck for his less than stellar chunin compatriots), Sasuke had found that the constant movements that mimicked the Jonin he had been studying, had lulled him in that strange mindset in which he could observe himself almost as if he was an external element, his mind classifying and identifying what his senses picked up without conscious input from the young Uchiha.

That was why, when the white noise of the downpour suddenly became unbalanced towards his left, his blood-red eyes immediately found the messenger signalling to the Jonin, his eyes memorising the hand signs that communicated the news without any strain on his mind.

Sasuke' eyes immediately turned to the Jonin he had been mimicking for the past few days, recognizing the infinitesimal clenching of the jaw, the telling twitch of his left hand, the blink of his eyes that came just a tad bit too fast, and the straightening of his shoulders.

He knew what he was going to say before his hands started to rely orders in the Konoha-standard-sign-language: '_ FIGHT - IWA FORCES E.T.A. 4 MINUTES - FORMATION 8- SCATTER' _what the join hadn't placed in his hand signs, however, was clear to Sasuke: fear.

With a detached series of movements, Sasuke saw himself jump upwards the trunk of a tree while his fingers fished out a couple of kunai that he had already prepared with ninja-wire. If the Jonin was scared, it either meant a much larger force than the one of the Third Battalion, or simply one composed by higher-ranked shinobi. In any case, the Last Uchiha would keep going, the note behind the HATE trembling just a tiny bit more, making itself known.

To take down that man, Sasuke knew that he needed to reach S-rank. However, with his new detached and calmer mentality, the Uchiha knew that for him to reach that level, he would need to survive first.


	29. The 5th of November I

**THE 5th OF NOVEMBER I**

**Daiki POV**

The wind whipped harshly across the land, the grey clouds that hid the sky were bloated with water that they didn't want yet to relinquish, while the trees and the men whispered among themselves, rustling the first and gesturing the seconds, both knowing, albeit in different ways, that a storm was about to break the tense air that had them jump at every shadow.

With a deep breath, I walked out from a small outcropping of trees, looking over the barren land of Iwa, seeing as how they were starting to enclose upon the Fire Nation' territories thanks to my enhanced Sage-senses.

I had intercepted an Iwa team made of four chunin, who ha been depleted rather suddenly because of 'an asset that had to be captured by all means', namely Kakashi, who had gone on a surgical killing spree, removing no less than twelve Iwa-jonin before that could even be deployed.

"I hate this part of my plan." I muttered to myself, starting to trot downhill, picking up speed as my chakra churned tightly in my coils. The Akatsuki was something that I would be able to deal with, one piece at time. Between my skills and the knowledge I had of their techniques, I had a definite leg up.

But my main objective wasn't to fight the Akatsuki, was it? I wanted to change the world, the S-rank group of nuke-nin was a secondary branch of what I wanted to accomplish, I needed to foment malcontent and fear amongst the civilians, while keeping the shinobi forces of their countries too busy to keep track of meetings between book-lovers.

It was a complex endeavour, made all the more difficult by the impending apocalypse if I didn't manage to take Obito and Black Zetsu out of the game before either of them took notice of my movements. Sadly, that implied figuring out a way to bypass Obito's 'I can phase through things' gimmick, which was supported by some bastardization of mokuton.

That left me with a very limited pool of options. Having both Nidaime and Shodaime at my beck and call was useful, undoubtedly so, but I also needed to carefully manage the flow of information they were exposed to, I could return them to a proper Death with a few handsigns, but losing them only because I got sloppy and they managed to figure out that my actions harmed equally all the nations, including their own very much beloved Konoha, it would be a waste.

To overcome Obito, I needed to block his eye's capabilities. Sadly, I could only replicate Seals, I was no genius with them, I lacked the proper 'forma mentis' for that, and improvising bullshit on the fly like Minato Namikaze could, was very much beyond my reach, even with the short tutoring that the Nidaime had deemed me worthy of. So, Fuinjutsu was out.

That left me with three other options: hope that Nagato was stronger than him, and engineer a conflict between the two. Which was risky and brought with it a series of complications that I couldn't reliably predict.

I could take Nagato' eyes for myself, hoping that they would work properly for me, and that I could figure them out before everything went to shit. And that was only after an unavoidable fight with one of the most powerful being on the continent, one that Naruto won thanks to Sage Mode plus Kurama, with a powerful clan of toad summons on the side as support. Oh sure, he had reacted to an attack, Naruto had no plan, he was on the backfoot, forced to protect his village instead of being proactive about it.

Ambushes were much more effective to kill someone. "What is a shinobi, if not someone weak that learns to kill someone stronger?" I murmured as I started to move full sprint, mulling over that idea. Shinobi were never meant to be honourable warriors, those were the samurai, and there was a reason if only a small nation relied on them while all the others had a proper system that kept a stable force of shinobi on hand.

I could plan to infiltrate Ame and assassin Nagato in the dark. Sadly, Jiraya had been spotted in the manga, and he had a vastly more effective method to infiltrate. More likely than not, I would end up fighting openly in enemy territory, something I was unfamiliar with, and even with Hashirama and Tobirama at my side, open fights were never clear and cut. Maybe the King of Hell thing that Nagato could do was able to subvert the Edo Tensei, I had no idea, but risking it was foolish.

Much more simple, even if distasteful, was taking Obito's free eye from Kakashi. Cunning Kakashi, adaptable Kakashi, smart Kakashi, 'my dogs will tell me you're about to get the drop on me an hour before the actual ambush' Kakashi. Someone that was just on the edge of being S-rank, someone that I suspected was far more skilled than me at the stealth game, even if the meditation state of Sage Mode could allow me to remain invisible from his senses, as soon as I moved, he would feel me coming.

Discreet was not a term that could be ascribed to Sages after all.

But opportunities like the one I stumbled upon were worthy exposing myself for.

* * *

**Kakashi 3rd person Pov**

Kakashi was exhausted. He ran, chakra churning tightly through his coils and breath heavy in his chest, even if no sound betrayed his presence, no leaf quivered because of his movements.

Three days. He had managed to gain that lead on the pursuing enemy, then, two days before, a mistake, something that was dictated more by the enemy's luck than his own he was less than a thrown kunai from a Konoha outpost when he spotted the lack of chunin among the trees. The lack of _living _ones at least.

So, from an instant to the latter, instead of finding himself a few minutes from safety, he had found himself at the centre of a classic pinch manoeuvre.

He hadn't managed to get a clear reading on the Iwa nin that slowly but surely worked to surround him, cutting every avenue of escape in order to force a confrontation. Even then, worry and fear were far from his mind. He had lost them in with his first foray into the previous war, there was only constant adrenaline, controlled breaths, trap disseminated in order to create a false trail, his summons unleashed to muck his trail and war him with their superior senses if something was wrong about the direction he moved in.

He ducked under a branch and sprinted over the ground, no doubt barely appearing as a grey and black blur to the unfortunate chunin that fell to the ground with a slit throat. Kakashi grimaced, knowing that he had left a clear sign of his passage, something that forced him to change direction and run in the open for more time that he would have liked to.

Kakashi wasn't your regular jonin. He wasn't your regular shinobi, period. Hunting him was just as dangerous as fighting him in the open, death was in the details, he knew, there was no optimal angle, no 'most reasonable approach', everything was classified in terms of effectiveness and risk. He discarded the highest risks without a second thought, one did not survive by taking risks after all, focusing instead on the optimal course of action that enabled survival.

Kakashi had witnessed much in his life, more than most should, and for every act of abject horror and depravity that marred his memories, he had learned, he learned from his enemies just as much as he had learned from his fellow Konoha-nin, Obito's eye, and his heart lurched with a familiar pain when his thoughts went in that direction, had proved itself invaluable.

Kakashi of One-thousand jutsu, Copy-nin Kakashi. His friend's eye surely had helped his career, but the only thing everybody had focused on was his ability to manipulate all the elements, with jutsu that would have required more time to be learned that the amount of time Kakashi had spent alive, fears and suspects that undoubtedly had been overblown by his own Village counter-intelligence. Still, it was something that helped him, given his own penchant for freaking out the enemy, putting him on the backfoot even before the fight proper started.

What everybody seemed to miss, and Kakashi was careful to not correct their assumptions, was that if the Sharingan allowed learning every jutsu with a single glance, why shouldn't it have allowed learning mannerisms, movements, tactics, taijutsu forms and everything else just as well?

Kakashi had been a blade in the dark, completing five missions nobody ever learned of for each that his Village used to parade him around, keeping the vultures at bay, nurturing the illusion of Konoha's strength, a strength that had been utterly lacking after the Yondaime's death. Too few shinobi after the previous war, the attack of the Kyubi in their own home hadn't helped.

Konoha had been close, very close, a few years from having the adequate numbers to keep up the appearances. A couple of years after the Crush the hopeful 13 years old chunins would have started to actually blossom, their chakra reserves expanding with puberty, their tactics and techniques refined carefully, ushering in a whole generation of jonin. Which was unheard of.

Kakashi kept running, following the lead of Bisuke, who had found a hole in the net his opponents' were tightening around him. He ran quickly over a river, his feet not making a sound over the water as he manipulated it in order to skate forward, faster than he could have done on dry land before remaining on the same side of the course of water, throwing off his pursuers.

Not only they were all Heir from the prominent clans, each entitled to the deepest secrets and techniques that not many others had every even attempted, but they had also grown up together, their interaction observed and carefully managed in their infancy, either with the blessing of their parents or working around the clan heads. There was no animosity, no secret hates. Inuzuka, Yamanaka, Nara, Hyuga, Aburame, Akimichi, each undoubtedly loyal to the village, eventually to be railroaded to become a join, while his own team... Naruto, with so much raw potential that he would undoubtedly fall into S-rank eventually, Sasuke, who had managed to grow out, if tentatively, of the trauma that his brother had inflicted upon him, and Sakura, who... well, Kakashi had never invested too much in the civilian girl, she was book-smart, and had so little chakra that if trained she could become a fine medic-nin, but there was nothing else about her that screamed 'promise'.

Kakashi knew that he had numerous people attacking him, there was just no way that he could let himself be trapped unless the enemy enjoyed an overwhelming numeric advantage.

Along with the class of heirs, there had been Daiki. Extravagant, Business-man, Writer... Original. He had truly blossomed under Gai's tutelage. He would have been one of the hidden blades along with his team, cutting through swathes of nuke-nin and keeping up the illusion of Konoha's strength just like Kakashi had done before flaunting his fame turned out to be more useful than applying his talents.

Bisuke tore through a couple of chunin, faster than they could react: the third man of the cell was a seasoned jonin however, and so his senses picked up on Kakashi presence an instant before his tanto could cut his jugular. A hectic exchange immediately followed, sidestep, punch, backslap, cartwheel, and wire tightened around Kakashi's opponent's neck. A twitch of the wrist and the ninja-wire acted as a garrote, removing the obstacle.

Then the tragedy, the death of his teammate, that Kakashi had witnessed, should have incensed the kid, the scary kid that had learned the Kage-bunshin after being shown only once, the one that killed a Junchuriki before hitting 18 years of age.

Instead, he grabbed the occasion of distancing himself from Konoha and serve at the Daimo's court, learning among the best of the country. That had been accepted from the Hokage and the council with appreciative nods. It made sense that he wished for distance, and being trained outside would bring fresh knowledge in Konoha, maybe nurture his originality.

When he had returned, Kakashi had not been impressed. The Hokage pit them one against another in order to see what kind of asset the upstart was, and Kakashi, for the first time in a long while, had been confused.

The young man behaved like he knew a joke that only he was privy to. But there was no proof whatsoever about betrayal or even disloyalty, the only quirk had been his absolute refusal of having a Yamanaka in his head, which admittedly, could sare shitless everyone. That had raised more than a few eyebrows, but the Hokage had preferred nurture the sapling with trust instead of putting it under a microscope, even if obviously Daiki had been followed constantly.

Daiki's tentative bond with the Last Uchiha had been something that helped to still the Hokage's hand, in hindsight, Kakashi could see it: how would have Sasuke reacted if the only one he started to open up with suddenly died? Even framing it on Kumo would have simply exacerbated the Uchiha' sociopath tendencies, not tightening the Village's hold on his loyalty one bit.

Kakashi never stopped, his body falling into the lull he had trained himself for in order to keep his mind fresh for battle, a subtle pulse of chakra later, he directed himself towards Pakkun, who was keeping open a narrow passage between enemy squads with a combination of sudden appearances and aborted attacks.

Slowly, as he ran, he returned to his musings. The quirky and generally aloof Daiki had proven his worth by revealing that he was a Sage. A Sage, like Jiraya-sama, one that could fight Orochimaru without a plan or preparation and force him to retreat, and that had proved that the Saindaime had been wise in his choices regarding Daiki.

Then it came the betrayal from Suna, coupled with Iwa's own predictable attempt to stir trouble. Everything engineered by Orochimaru, who had made open use of his knowledge of the territory in order to smuggle across the trees a whole army. They failed, and failed badly, not managing to destroy Konoha, which had endured, like it always did.

So close, they had been so close to the transition between managing an image of power and actually having that power.

Daiki, one of the 3 S-rank among Konoha' ranks, along with two of the sannin (since nobody actually believed that Tsunade was off the rooster), was going to be the last step before Naruto's generation came through with their blood's promise, showing the world the might of Konoha' clans and bloodlines.

Gone with Orochimaru, who had simulated his own death so many times that nobody truly believed his demise to be permanent. Daiki, aloof and dangerous Daiki, who the higher-ups suspected had engineered his own death, getting out clean from shinobi life.

Sandaime-sama crippled in his deathbed, age finally catching up during his last clash against Onoki, who paid with his life for his failed attempt on Konoha's life.

That combination of events had nevertheless bought them time. Konoha was still powerful. The counter-intelligence had subtly confirmed that Konoha hadn't needed the Kyubi to win, that Konohagakure no Sato still had Senju Tsunade and the Toad Sage Jiraya, while the other Villages had at most two S-rank in their numbers.

Iwa needed a few weeks to figure out what to do, knowing that Konoha couldn't ignore their last insult. Onoki's grandaughter was promising, but too young and inexperienced to take his place, so her father had taken up the mantle as Yondaime Tsuchikage instead

Kumo had been grateful to not have been dragged in that particular shitfest. Keeping their remaining Jinchuriki near their Kage,

Kiri was a mess, their own spies confirmed that there was something more than simple unrest going on there.

Suna got gutted, there was no other way to properly put it, and Danzo quickly got it under control, securing one border and pacing Konoha in an optimal position in order to deal with Kiri.

A twinge on Kakashi chakra informed him that Pakkun had dismissed himself, and the Copy-nin turned sharply left, following the coded messages that his summons were transmitting through chakra pulses, too subtle and exact to be picked up by anyone lacking the connection created by a Summon contract.

In the following sixteen seconds, all of his summonses got wounded heavily enough to be dismissed.

Twenty seconds after Pakkun's disappearance, Kakashi broke out from the umpteenth outcropping of trees, only to stop when a fucking _platoon _of Iwa-nin surrounded him. At least fifty chunin strong, there was at least a single three-man team made of join on the forefront of the small army that had trapped him. All in all, he briefly felt honoured that Iwa would deploy such a force only for little him.

_Shit. _The thought was discarded as it formed, one hand immediately lifting his headband, freeing Obito's eye, which shone maliciously in the grim weather.

The Copy-nin snarled quietly, his teeth bared under his mask, while he started to mo...

They died.

Blunt force trauma so strong their organs collapsed, their bones splintered, the shards rocketing through their bodies only to harm their peers.

They died quickly.

The damage inflicted so vast, that their brains went in shock from the pain, spines tore apart, throats slashed open, skulls crushed in impossibly strong hands.

They died suddenly.

They drowned on dry land. when the river rose like an angry god, globs of water clung to the nostrils and mouths, instilling panic during those last minutes of apnea the trained ninja were capable of facing.

They seized in a second of agony before death freed them from the pain inflicted by the flash boiled flesh, as a swathe of white fire scorched the ground around Kakashi.

Instead of dying, those with enough wit to figure out a countermeasure saw their limbs turn into ash under white waves of fire, and while they were reeling from the pain, the cold bite of metal found its mark, striking with unerring precision vital organs.

They cried in despair while the ground split open to devour them, their techniques, chakra and will not remotely strong enough to oppose the Sage.

They died in droves, they died alone, they turned to run only to stumble upon a comrade busy retreating, before being used as a target by squads of brothers and sisters who lived in a genjutsu they couldn't dispel.

The chunin represented the greatest part of the army, and they were ants challenging an active volcano, leaves daring the sky to strike them down.

The jonin reacted better, but while they managed to recognize a blur of _something_ tearing through their ranks, they simply could not keep up.

The few genin that had been drafted to the front in order to be tested in the war were running without direction, attempting to help, or just survive, but they either were lucky, or they just disappeared, trampled upon by the reason why the army had been stopped.

At the end of the day, it didn't really matter, they died. Broken. Shredded. Tore apart. Splattered. Erased.

Kakashi ducked and weaved across the battlefield, making use of the extensive properties of the Sharingan coupled with his vast experience in order to not get caught in the crossfire, observing a familiar presence as it crushed the opponent that had been hounding the Copy-nin for two days straight.

* * *

**Daiki POV**

I perceived the healthy form of an enemy shinobi snap his wrist in a throwing motion, the twisting hips of a kunoichi about to hammer her heel in my left temple, the bodies moving around me were like colours on a canvas. And exactly like images on a painted surface, to my senses and reflexes, they appeared almost still.

My right hand shot forward and choke-slammed the first against the second, the windpipe crushing beneath my fingers and the skull of the kunoichi cracking open under the pressure I exercised upon the body of her fellow countryman.

Without stopping, I kicked away the head of a third man and enjoyed the surprise of the fourth when the kunai that he tried to plunge in my neck broke against my toughened skin before slamming my left elbow through its skull.

It was almost like I was a man of iron tearing through origami. The sage-mode granted me a form of invulnerability that in the manga only people of at least Pain's caliber had managed to crack.

Along with it, enhanced senses and reflexes that paired with a strenght and speed that was beyond what anyone but S-class shinobi could hope to withstand.

_Sage-mode equals cheat-code._ I sing-songed in my head, trying to not focus on the dying men around me.

More chakra one consumed, faster the senchakra would be depleted, and that was why I was carrying on with only a little ninjutsu, and I left a shadow-clone to support me with genjutsu. And it was also the optimal strategy because of the number of deaths I was causing. Wide area of effect jutsu would easily be opposed by groups of enemy shinobi, with the Hinokami no mai I could kill a dozen of them, before another group could counter it. Using taijutsu, I was tearing apart the enemy lines, grabbing the occasional shinobi an hurling it through trough the others, and the psychological impact was starting to be felt.

Having a natural affinity for suiton, however, and one as trained as my own was, meant that with a half-ram hand-seal, the small course of water that Kakashi had tried to use to lose his tail followed my will with barely a twitch of my will, my own chakra crushing the feeble attempt of the Iwa-nin to gain control upon the humongous amount of liquid that moved around me like a twister. Instead of blades of wind, whipping tendrils of water that were capable of tearing through or drowning my enemies in response to their reaction surrounded me, following my path through the Iwa-platoon.

When the last Iwa-nin fell, disappearing from my senses like a candle snuffed out, it started to rain, the heavy clouds finally deciding that they had enough of waiting.

"You're welcome." I drawled eyeing Kakashi, who was doing his very best to not show the exhaustion that undoubtedly had creeped out on him, very few things can be hidden from a sage.

"You' re officially dead." he retorted, making me shrug.

"Sandaime's orders, Konohagakure higher-ups are compromised." I saw no reason to not propagate the lie I had seeded in Konoha, if I was lucky enough, Shikamaru would end up with a sudden ally eventually.

The Copy-nin made no motion towards lowering his headband, not that he expected to have a chance against me if I were to attack, it was more of an act of respect if I were to guess.

With a sigh, I let the Nature chakra seep out of my coils and back into the world loosing the golden eyes that undoubtedly were freaking out the Copy-nin, rolling my shoulders to let the kinks out of them. I wasn't tired, since I had used only a minute amount of chakra to fight. I had wanted to fight without Nature-Chakra, relying only upon the improvements that my self imposed murder-training had bestowed on me, but I wanted to finish it quickly.

"Any reason why the current Hokage would have asked me to look into your 'death' if the opportunity arose, and why it's a standing order for at least five other shinobi that I know of?" he asked me, making me scratch my jawline thoughtfully.

"Eh... It's a bit complex... have you heard anything about my cute little genin?"

"They're chunin, and I won't tell you anything, since you're a nuke-nin now." he retorted, not giving an inch of information.

I scoffed, rising my head towards the sky in order to let the rain wash away most of the gore and blood that the Iwa-nin had left on me, helping it along with a bit of seal-less Suiton manipulation: "I don't hate Konoha."

"Why reappearing now?" he asked, exciting another shrugh from me.

"It's the 5th of November, and you needed a hand."

The Copy-nin blinked, trying to figure out how much I was shitting him: "Why is the date relevant?" he asked, completely dismissing my claim that I actually wanted to help him.

I snorted, unable to resist: "Remember, remember the Fifth of November, The Gunpowder Treason and Plot. I see of no reason Why Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot."

"I can't really trust you in any case." Kakashi pointed out, dismissing my answer.

I nodded: "You'd be right."

My shadow-clone, who had abandoned Sage-Mode at the end of my fight against the Iwa-nin, chopped the Copy-nin over the back of his neck, compressing a chosen nerve, that caused Kakashi to slump forward, unconscious.

I moved quickly and with certainty, chakra with a green tint covering my hands while my clone hands rested upon Kakashi's head: the one over his forehead keeping him unconscious, while the second rested at the base of his spine, keeping him still through an unlikely application of medical chakra.

Swiping on a seal over my forearm protector, I summoned a glass container full of an inert solution. "Sorry, Kakashi." I muttered as my hands opened the eyelid that his Obito's Sharingan, still active and consuming Hatake's chakra.

With a wet plop and a lurch that thankfully was covered by the heavy rain, I removed my objective by the Copy-nin's orbit, placing it safely in the container I had prepared before sealing it back in the storage seal on my forearm protector.

"Don't be an asshole." My clone told me, making me raise an eyebrow at him.

With his head, he pointed to the very fresh bodies surrounding us: "At least give him a nice blue eye to dazzle the ladies with."

I snorted, but acquiesced to my shadow clone's request, Kakashi was kind of alright on my books. An asshole, for sure, but one of the good ones. Finding a compatible eye took fifteen minutes, restoring it to an acceptable level in order for it to be transplanted another five minutes of careful application of medical chakra, while the operation, which I had looked up back when I was a genin, exactly for the possibility of taking up an OP doujutsu later down the line, took twenty minutes.

For some reason, his optical nerve was less than receptive to my efforts. If it was because his body instinctively opposed every chakra that it identified as not-me, I couldn't tell.

Once I was done, my clone dispelled, and I took Kakashi over one shoulder, disappearing in shunshin across the barren land of Iwa, pointing to the closest tree line that indicated the proper beginning of the Land of Fire.

I dropped Kakashi in a hidden enough position among the branches of a particularly tall birch tree, before running across the forest, sneaking my way across the border with Iwa a couple of times before I felt something through the water that I habitually used as an aid to perceive the world around me.

I was being followed.

Whoever it was, it had kept crossing the boundary between nations like me, indicating that it wasn't a common shinobi, those would have been at least careful when doing so.

I reached a vast clearing, where a small course of water sneaked through, enlarged by the downpour.

After a flash of lightning that blinded the world, a couple of shinobi appeared less than twenty meters from me.

Dark cloaks with red clouds, Itachi and Kisame were staring me down.

* * *

**AN**

**Well, things start to move again, a brief, semi-hidden summary of recent events in the first part of this chapter, while every country amasses their forces and gets started with preventive assassinations in order to facilitate the full-blown war, Daiki makes his first move.**

**I played a bit with the POV, I wanted to make everything a bit more dynamic, did it work? **

* * *

**I've finally set up my own site, where my fics can be downloaded in pdf (complete, not chapter by chapter), and you can support me through a donation if you have the means and the wish to do so.**

**cloud9stories dot net is the name of my site, you can find the complete caption on my profile if googling it isn't enough (for whatever reason ff doesn't let me copy-past the URL here).**

**Thank you!**


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